


Letters from Louis

by kissykris



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Based on To All The Boys I've Loved Before, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Unintentional Love, Until it isn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-15 07:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16058711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissykris/pseuds/kissykris
Summary: *fic is inspired by "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" by Jenny Han*Louis Tomlinson is a senior who has never had a boyfriend. He writes a love letter every time he has a crush on a guy, since he does not know how else to talk to them. One day, the letters get out. Harry Styles, a recipient of one of the letters, comes up with the idea of fake dating so Niall Horan, another letter recipient, will be jealous that Louis moved on. The pair come up with a contract of rules to follow, and falling in love with each other isn't one of them.





	1. Chapter 1

"Lou, can I talk to you?" Louis looked up from his history text book. His younger sister, Lottie, was standing in the door.

"Of course, come on in. What's up?"

She plopped down on his bed, wrapping her arms around one of his pillows. Louis could tell she was nervous, and placed his hand on her lower back, gently rubbing it.

"When did you have your first kiss?"

Louis sighed. His sister was only twelve, she shouldn't be thinking about kissing yet.

"I was fourteen, why?" he questioned. He really hoped his sister wasn't planning on dating or kissing anyone. She was far too young.

"I dunno. A few of my friends have already had theirs, and I don't want to be the last one to have mine," she admitted with a small shrug.

"Lots, don't worry about it. And don’t rush it. It'll happen when it's supposed to happen," Louis reassured her. He thought back to his first kiss. It was a few years back, and he kissed a girl named Hannah. They had been friends for a few months, and Hannah told Louis she liked him more than a friend. Louis didn't have the heart to tell her that he wasn't interested in her, or girls in general, for that matter, so he just let her kiss him. They tried to make things work, but Louis gave up about a week into their "relationship" and broke up with her.

His first real kiss had been three summers ago. He spent the summer as a soccer coach for little kids alongside Harry Styles. They had gotten pretty close, and Louis could tell he was falling hard for Harry. On their last day of work, Harry and Louis kissed.

_It was Harry who made the first move. They had just finished putting the last net away in the shed, and Harry pushed Louis up against the wall. He whispered something under his breath, and to this day, Louis didn't know what it was, before leaning in and pressing his soft lips against Louis's. It left Louis completely breathless._

_"Sorry," Harry whispered, pulling away quickly._

_"Don’t be," Louis whispered back, putting his hand on Harry's waist and pulling him closer to him._

_"Lou, we can't, I can't," Harry replied, pushing himself out of Louis's grasp, and leaving Louis alone in the shed._

_That night, Louis wrote his first letter. He wrote a letter every time he had a crush so intense that he didn't know how else to express his feelings. Louis wrote about how Harry was the first "real" boy he ever had a crush on, how Harry made him feel confident and secure with his sexuality, how Harry was so easy to talk to, and how badly he wanted to date him. Louis's letter to Harry was extremely personal._

_However, Louis's hopes of dating Harry came crashing down on the first day of school. Harry walked the halls with a girl basically clinging to him. She draped herself over him at lunch, and when Louis tried to talk to Harry after school, he ignored him. Louis was outraged. He couldn't believe that Harry showed up to school with a new girlfriend. He was forced to push his feelings aside, since he wasn't able to act on them if Harry was dating someone. Eventually he forgot all about the feelings he had for Harry._

It wasn't until Lottie asked him about his first kiss that Harry resurfaced in his mind.

"Does it feel like fireworks? In movies, people always say it feels like fireworks," Lottie rambled on.

"If it's with the right person, then yes," he smiled, thinking about his kiss with Harry. It sure as hell felt like fireworks to him.

"Did yours?" she asked. 

"The first time I kissed a boy, it did, yeah," he nodded. He had always been honest with his sisters that he liked boys. 

"But what happened? You've never had a boyfriend. And who did you kiss?"

"I kissed Harry, but it's complicated, Lots," he sighed, turning back to his history homework. "Hey, can you grab me a yellow highlighter?" he asked, as she stood up to leave. "There should be some in the second drawer of my desk."

Lottie dug through the drawer to find the highlighter for Louis. She picked up a 4-pack of highlighters, and noticed a stack of envelopes underneath them. Each envelope was addressed to a different person, and there was one addressed to a Harry. Lottie wondered if it was the same Harry that Louis had kissed.

She slipped the letters into her sweatshirt pocket, and tossed one of the highlighters to Louis.

"Thank you," Louis shouted, as Lottie walked out of the room. He was oblivious to the fact that she had found his hidden letters.

 

**…**

"Tomlinson," a loud voice echoed down the empty hallway. Louis slammed his locker shut, and turned to see Harry Styles walking over to him. He was alone, which rarely happened. Styles was always surrounded by his friends. That's what happens when you're the most popular guy in school, Louis guessed. "Can we talk?" he asked. 

Louis glanced down to see Harry holding an envelope. He instantly felt sick to his stomach.

"Uh, y-yeah. Sure. What's up?" Louis stuttered. 

"Look. I appreciate the honesty, but it's never gonna happen," Harry stated, holding up the envelope. 

"Fuck," Louis mumbled under his breath. If Harry got the letter he wrote, then so did the other boys he wrote letters to. "Fuck," he repeated, loud enough for Harry to hear.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just, uh, I wrote that years ago."

"So why did I just get it in the mail yesterday?" he questioned. Louis bit his lip, unsure of how to answer. He had no idea how his letters got out. He kept them hidden in his desk drawer, and he never let anyone touch his desk.

"Fuck," he yelled, when he realized that he made Lottie get him a highlighter out of the same desk drawer he kept the letter. She must have seen the letters.

"What?" Harry asked, even more confused than he was before.

"I need to go. We'll talk about this another time," Louis muttered, turning around and booking it down the hallway.

"Louis, wait," Harry yelled, but Louis was long gone.

Harry stood there, bewildered. He was curious about the letter, and he wanted an explanation. He remembered kissing Louis a couple years ago, but it was just a quick peck. At the time, Harry had been questioning his sexuality, and, to be honest, he still was.

"Styles, you coming to practice?" one of his teammates asked, waking Harry from his thoughts, and walking up behind Harry and slinging his arm over Harry's shoulder.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, got caught up talking to a teacher. I just need to grab something from my locker. I'll see you on the field in a couple minutes. Tell coach to start without me," Harry said, and his teammate nodded, before leaving.

Harry stuck the envelope into his backpack and headed down to the locker room to meet his teammates for soccer practice.

Across town from the high school, Louis was about to beat his sister up for mailing the letter.

"Lottie, what the fuck!" he screamed, slamming the front door behind him. She poked her head out from behind the door.

"What?" she asked in a whisper.

"Why did you mail my letters?" he hissed, anger coursing through his veins.

"I thought you wanted them mailed! Why would you write a letter and not mail it?" she questioned, and Louis sighed.

"Lots, just don't touch my stuff anymore. It's none of your business who I write letters to and if I want to mail them or not."

"Okay. I'm sorry, Lou. I didn't mean to hurt you," she whispered, blinking back tears.

"Don’t cry, it’s okay. I promise. I love you," Louis said, pulling her in for a hug. He didn’t mean to yell at his sister, and he didn't want to make her feel bad. He was just annoyed that she found them.

As he sat on his bed, he thought about who he wrote letters to. He had only written three, since he wasn't really the type for falling in love. There was his old best friend, Liam, who moved two years ago. Louis wrote about having a huge crush on him for a few months, and how he thought it was love. He's still not sure if he ever really loved Liam, or if he just liked the idea of falling in love with his best friend. He wrote a letter to his junior prom date, Niall. Niall was a year younger than him, and still goes to their school, so he was expecting a call from Niall in the near future. He didn’t exactly remember what he wrote about in Niall's letter, other than the fact he regretted not kissing him that night. Niall's letter was the most recent one he had written, and as much as Louis didn’t want to admit it, he was still in love with Niall. And, of course, he wrote one to Harry, his first real crush.

 

**…**

 

The next morning, Louis was intentionally late for school. He was hoping to avoid confronting both Harry and Niall. He was more worried about Niall's reaction to the letter, since the junior prom was six months ago and Harry and Louis's kiss was years ago. 

But, just his luck, Harry was standing in front of his locker. 

"Tomlinson, can we talk?" he asked, although Louis didn’t have much of a choice. He had to talk to Harry about the letter. 

"Sure, Sorry about leaving so suddenly yesterday, by the way. I forgot I had to watch my sisters after school," Louis lied. "So, about the letter. Like I said, I wrote it years ago." 

"The summer we worked together," Harry interrupted. 

"Yeah, we spent every day with each other, and I don’t know. At some point I guess I fell in love with you. It's stupid. I wrote that years ago. I don’t even know what it says," he paused, looking up at Harry, who was staring down at him, "Obviously I don't have feelings for you anymore."

"Well, let's see," Harry said, before talking what the letter said. But Louis was distracted. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Niall walking down the hall. They made eye contact for a brief second, before Louis's eyes darted back to Harry.

Without saying a word, Louis pressed his lips to Harry's, pushing Harry up against the lockers.

"Sorry," he mumbled, after Niall walked past them.

"What'd you do that for? Were you trying to make Niall jealous?" 

"It's complicated. I have to go." 

"Louis, wait," Harry shouted down the hall, but Louis ignored him.

 

**…**

 

That night, when Louis was at work, Harry came in. 

"Styles, I'm working," Louis muttered, walking towards another rack of clothes that needed to be sorted. 

"I know. That's why I came to talk to you. You can't run away from me now."

Louis sighed. Harry made a good point. He couldn't do anything to get away from Harry, especially because he just took his break an hour ago.

"What do you want to talk about?" Louis asked, as if he didn’t already know the answer. Harry rolled his eyes.

"The letter. And the kiss," Harry paused. He didn’t know where to start. "Why did you write a letter to begin with? And why did you keep it for all these years?"

"I liked you, more than a friend, at the time. And I didn’t know how to express that to you after we kissed because you, quite literally, ran away after it happened. I needed an outlet to express my feelings, and I've always been a writer. I thought, if I wrote them down, then I would be able to get over them faster. I don’t know. And I don't know why I kept them, but I promise, I'm not in love with you anymore. So just forget you got a letter, and go back to being popular," Louis explained. It was the first time he had ever discussed the meaning behind the letters before, and his logic hardly made sense when he tried to explain it.

"But you kissed me when Niall walked by us. Why? Did you want to make him jealous?" he questioned, and Louis sighed. There was no way to dodge this question.

"No, I just didn’t want to talk to Niall about the love letter he got," Louis admitted.

"Wait, so I'm not the only person who got a love letter from you?"

"No, Niall got one. And my old best friend, Liam, got one too."

"Wow, you make a guy feel so loved by giving him a handwritten love letter, only to find out that you aren't the only person who got one," Harry muttered.

"I never expected any of you guys to get the letters!" Louis nearly shouted, "God, I wish I never wrote them," he added under his breath. Louis moved away from Harry and over to another section of the store to organize the clothes.

"I have an idea," Harry said, after a few minutes of silence. Louis looked over to him, listening. "We can pretend that we're dating. Niall, or your friend, Liam, won't want to say anything to you about being in love with you if they think you have a boyfriend. You'll make them jealous when they see us together."

"Let me think about that, Harry," Louis replied. "I'll get back to you. Now, can you please let me do my job?" Harry nodded, and walked out from the shop.

Louis sighed. The idea of faking a relationship terrified him. He'd never been in a real relationship, and he didn't want all of his firsts to be fake. But on the flip side, he could pretend to date Harry, and tell Niall and Liam that he wanted to confess his feelings for them before he got into his first "real" relationship. The more Louis thought about it, the more he realized they might actually be able to pull this off.

 

**…**

 

Louis hadn't seen Harry around all day during school, and decided to wait outside the locker room to have a chance to talk to him. He watched different guys on the soccer team file into the locker room, but there was no sign of Harry.

After a few more minutes, Louis sighed. He began to re-think the whole fake relationship they had agreed to.

"Lou," Harry smiled, standing in the doorway of the locker room. He was already in his soccer uniform. "A few of the guys said they saw you waiting out here. Figured it was for me."

"Yeah. I just wanted to let you know that I can't go to your game tonight. My mom had to pick up a shift and I have to watch my sisters. I know it's in the contract, and there's nothing I hate more than breaking a rule," Louis started to explain.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It gives me an excuse to skip the party at Zayn's tonight. I can just tell the team that I'm helping my boyfriend babysit."

"Great, I'll see you on Monday, yeah?"

"Yeah, see you on Monday," Harry paused. He heard the footsteps of his teammates from inside the locker room echoing off of the cement floor. Out of instinct, Harry pulled Louis in for a kiss. He had to keep the act up in front of his friends. At least that's what he told himself.

"Harry, stop kissing your boyfriend. We have warm-ups," one of his teammates shouted, and Harry pulled himself away from Louis.

"You broke one of the rules on the contract, so it was only fair for me to break one, too," Harry whispered. Louis could feel Harry's breath against his lips. "I'll see you around, Lou."

Their contract was a list of 5 rules:

 

  * __NO kissing__


  * _Go to Harry's soccer games (home AND away)_


  * _Go to parties with Harry_


  * _Sit together at lunch when we have the same lunch block_


  * _Don't tell ANYBODY that we're faking it_



They had both agreed to all the rules, and they decided that additional rules may be added if they were deemed necessary.

Louis watched as Harry ran off to join the rest of the soccer team, a small smile on his face. 

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Niall asked, his voice coming from behind Louis. Louis spun around and nodded.

"Hey, Niall. What’s up?"

"How long have you been with Harry?" 

"Not long, why?" Louis asked, knowing Niall was going to bring up the letter.

"I, uh, got your letter. I'm just confused as to why you would mail me a love letter if you have a boyfriend," Niall paused. "And, for the record, I would have let you kiss me."

"Fuck," Louis muttered under his breath. "You weren't ever supposed to read that."

"Well then why did you write it?" Niall asked, confused.

"I've never been in a relationship before, so when things started getting serious with Harry, I needed to write down my feelings for everyone I ever had a crush on. As a way of releasing all the feelings I had for them, I guess," Louis lied.

"Logic makes no sense, but I appreciate the thought. And, hey, if things between you and Harry don’t work out, you can come back to me. Since I know you have feelings for me," Niall laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Louis felt his heart drop. He wanted so badly to confess that he was still in love with Niall, and that he was faking it with Harry, but he couldn't. The entire point of faking a relationship with Harry was to get Niall jealous that Louis had once been in love with him, but he wasn't anymore.

 

**…**

 

Later that night, Louis and his sisters were sitting on the couch watching a movie when they heard a knock on the door.

"Must be the pizza. I'll get it," Louis muttered, standing up and grabbing his wallet off of the kitchen table. He walked over to the front door, and swung it open. Instead of the delivery driver he was expecting, he was face to face with Harry.

"What are you doing here?" Louis asked, stepping outside and pulling the door shut behind him.

"My car broke down last night, so I got a ride to school from a friend. He said he lives down the street from you, so he offered to drop me off here after the game when I told him I wasn't going to Zayn's because I promised I'd help you babysit. Uh, sorry. I should go."

"Hey, no. It's fine. You can come in. I'll drive you home when my mom gets home from work, if you don’t mind. Or you can have a friend pick you up," Louis rambled.

"Thank you. I know meeting each other's families isn’t in the contract, but," Harry's voice trailed off.

"It's fine, Harry. Really," Louis reassured him. He opened the front door, and led Harry inside. "Do you want a quick tour? Do you need to shower or anything? The girls and I ordered pizza, you can have some when it gets here."

"A shower would be great. Thank you," Harry smiled. Louis glanced into the living room. His sisters were still fixated on the movie. Him and Harry passed by them, and they didn’t even notice.

"Bathroom is the second door on the left. I'll grab you a towel and a change of clothes, and then I'll show you how to work the shower," Louis explained, and Harry nodded. Louis pushed open the door to his room, and grabbed a pair of black sweatpants that were too big for him, as well as an old t-shirt. He grabbed a fluffy white towel out of the closet, and knocked on the door of the bathroom, before opening it.

Harry was standing, shirtless, with his back to Louis. He had one leg propped up on the toilet seat, and he was untying his cleat.

"Here," Louis said, placing the clothes and towel on the counter. Harry grinned at him, "Thanks, Lou. Appreciate it." Louis then started the shower for Harry, before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Louis returned to the couch with his sisters. 

"Who was here? And who's taking a shower?" His sister, Phoebe, asked. 

"Just a friend. He had a soccer game so he needed to shower first, but he wanted to meet all of you." 

"What's his name?" his sister, Daisy, asked, and all of his sisters turned their attention away from the movie and on to Louis. 

"Harry," Louis answered. "You haven’t met him before." Lottie's eyes lit up, and Louis shot her a death glare, warning her to keep quiet.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, and this time it was actually the delivery driver. After Louis paid for it, he took the two boxes into the kitchen. He set them out on the table, and called for his sisters. They all raced into the kitchen to grab slices. He didn’t even notice Harry standing the hallway, watching him hand his sisters two slices each. Louis passed out napkins, and told one of them to grab drinks for everyone else. Once the girls were settled at the kitchen table, with their food and drinks, Louis finally saw Harry.

Harry was in Louis's sweatpants, but he was shirtless. 

"Your t-shirt didn’t fit," Harry said shyly. "Too small." 

"Sorry. Let me check and see if I have a different one," Louis replied, putting the stack of napkins he was holding down on the table. Harry followed Louis down the hall, but stood in the doorway of Louis's room. 

"You can come in," Louis said, and Harry took a few slow steps into the room. He glanced around. Louis's room was extremely organized. He felt like he would mess it all up if he stepped in the wrong spot. He looked over to Louis, who was standing on his tip-toes to try and grab a hoodie. Louis's arm was stretched over his head, and his shirt was riding up ever so slightly, revealing Louis's toned stomach. 

"Need a hand?" Harry chuckled, walking over to Louis.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks. The hoodies should fit you. I buy them big.

Harry grabbed the first sweatshirt. It was a light gray college crewneck in a size large. Harry knew Louis didn't wear a size large, especially since the t-shirt Louis offered him was a size small. He pulled it over his head, purposefully flexing his back muscles when he caught a glimpse of Louis staring in the mirror.

"Are you hungry?" Louis asked, after Harry was dressed. Harry nodded. The pizza smelt really good, and he was starving since he didn't eat after his soccer game.

They made their way into the kitchen, and the girls were still eating.

 "Guys, this is Harry," Louis introduced, and Harry waved at them. "Harry, my sisters."

 "How do you two know each other?" one of the asked, and Harry walked over and crouched next to her.

 "Well, I guess you could say I'm Lou's boyfriend," he answered, flashing a smile at  Louis.

 "Louis, why didn’t you tell us?" "Lou, does mom know?" "How long have you two been dating?"

 The questions from his sisters kept piling up, and Louis sighed.

"It's a long story, girls," Louis started. 

"Want me to tell you?" Harry asked, and all the girls nodded, eagerly. He looked over to Louis, who nodded. Louis was curious as to what Harry would tell them. If he would tell them the truth, about the letter. "Well, we worked together over the summer, and we started getting close, as friends. But both of us realized we liked each other more than friends, and I kissed him. And now we're dating, isn’t that right, Lou?" 

"Uh, yeah, yeah," Louis blushed, a small smile crossing his face. "Okay, do you guys want to get back to the movie?" 

A chorus of 'yeses' was heard, as all of the girls stood up to clear their plates. They tossed their paper plates and napkins in the trash. 

"Daisy, sit next to me, so Lou can sit next to Harry," Fiz said quietly, and Harry couldn't help but smile.

Louis grabbed the pizza box off the counter and put it on the table, sitting down across from Harry. He laughed as Harry devoured his first two pieces. They continued to talk, about nothing in particular, while they ate. After a little while, one of Louis's sisters waltzed into the kitchen. 

"Lou, the movie's over. Can you put another one on?" she asked quietly.

Louis glanced at the clock. It was almost 9:30. 

"Phoebe, it's almost bedtime."

"But Lou," she whined, looking like she was going to start crying. 

"Can I give a compromise?" Harry asked, looking between Louis and his sister. Louis nodded. "Why don't you girls get all ready for bed, you know, brush your teeth and put on your pajamas, and then we can all get comfy and fall asleep while watching a movie."

"That's not a bad idea," Louis remarked. "Go tell your sisters to get ready for bed and I'll get another movie set up." Phoebe ran back into the living room, and moments later, all of the girls were running around the house. They were gathering blankets and pillows and bickering about who got to brush their teeth first. "You're really good with them," Louis said to Harry.

"Thanks. I just really like kids, and they like me too," Harry smiled. "Come on, let's go join them."

Louis grabbed a blanket out of his room, and tossed it on to the couch. His twin sisters were stretched out on the floor, and his other sisters were sitting on the smaller couch. Louis put in the movie the girls had agreed upon, tonight's choice was _The Little Mermaid_ , before making himself comfortable on the couch. Harry cuddled up beside him, without saying anything. Louis absentmindedly started running his fingers through Harry's hair. An hour and a half later, all of his sisters were asleep. Lottie and Fizzy had retired to their room about a half an hour ago, and the twins both fell asleep within twenty minutes of the movie starting. Harry was half asleep, and far too comfortable to move.

"Come on," Louis whispered, nudging Harry. He wanted to put the twins to bed and clean up before his mom got home. Harry let out a low groan, but shifted slightly, which allowed Louis to get up. 

Louis scooped Daisy up in his arms, and nodded towards Phoebe, silently asking Harry to help put her bed. Harry caught on, and picked Phoebe up. Louis led the way to the twins shared bedroom. 

After the girls were in bed, Harry offered to help Louis clean up. 

"You don't have to. You can crash on the couch. I'll wake you when my mom's home and I can drive you home."

"Lou, let me help you," he said quietly, "I'm already up. There's no point in trying to fall back asleep."

After wiping the table down, Louis grabbed the empty pizza boxes and threw them into the trash can out on the deck. When he came back in, he saw Harry asleep on the couch. He laughed to himself, as he walked over to the couch. He draped a blanket over Harry, but when he turned around, he felt a hand on his arm.

"Stay," Harry murmured, gently pulling Louis back to him. Louis contemplated it for a few moments, before climbing under the blanket and cuddling up next to Harry. Harry's arms draped over him loosely. "We have to look like a couple for when your mom gets home," he added quickly.

The next morning, Louis woke up, still wrapped in Harry's arms. He didn't remember even falling asleep. He carefully lifted Harry's arm up, and slid out, trying not to wake Harry up. 

"Who's asleep on the couch?" his mom asked, startling him. He didn’t realize she was awake. 

"Harry. My, uh, boyfriend," Louis answered. 

"And why didn’t I know you had a boyfriend?"

"It never came up?" Louis lied. He had no idea how to tell his mom he was faking a relationship because his secret love letters got mailed out.

"Well, I'm happy if you're happy. And you look happy, Lou," she smiled, before turning back to her coffee. "I have to leave for work in a few minutes, I picked up another shift. But I would love to have dinner with Harry sometime soon, will you tell him that?"

"Yeah, of course."

Louis made himself a cup of coffee, and decided against making one for Harry, because he wasn't sure how Harry took his coffee. He decided to also cook pancakes and eggs for breakfast for the girls, since his mom had to go back to work and wouldn't be able to feed them. As the eggs cooked, he looked over the schedule on the fridge. The twins had a soccer game at 12, and Fizzy needed a ride to her friend's house at 11 to work on a project. Lottie would have to come with Lou to the twins soccer game, which she would complain about, and he had to find a time to drop Harry off. 

"Hey, need any help?" a sleepy voice asked, and Louis looked over to see Harry, his hair disheveled, rubbing his eyes.

"No, I think I'm all set," Louis replied, but Harry ignored him. He took the spatula out of Louis's grasp and began flipping pancakes.

"Lou, you're really making plain pancakes? That's so boring. Let's get some chocolate chips in them or something," Harry chuckled, and he heard a laugh behind him. He spun around and saw Daisy standing in the hallway. "You want chocolate in your pancakes, don't you?" he asked, and she nodded. "Go get some and we'll sneak some into Lou's plain pancakes." Her tiny feet ran across the tiled kitchen floor and into the basement, where the pantry was. 

"Harry, they had pizza last night. They can't have chocolate chip pancakes today," Louis groaned.

"Oh, shush. They're eating eggs. And you have fruit too. That's a well-balanced meal," Harry insisted. 

Moments later, Daisy returned with the chocolate chips. Harry held her in his arms and let her sprinkle them in herself. She was beyond pleased with herself, and she shrieked with laughter when Harry showed her how to make a smiley face. 

Once the pancakes and eggs were done, Harry offered to cut up some fruit while Louis set the table. Louis grabbed the plate of pancakes, and carried them over to the table. He told Daisy to go wake her sisters up and tell them breakfast was ready. 

"So," Harry started, once the room was empty. "I heard your mom say she wants to have dinner with me." 

"You were awake?" Louis asked, and Harry nodded. 

"I woke up as soon as you got up, but then I heard you two talking, so I pretended to go back to sleep. I could smell your coffee, so I decided to get up and help. But, that's not the point. I would love to have dinner with your mom."

"Harry, we don't have to. It's not in the contract. You don't have to meet my mom. You didn’t have to even meet my sisters, who, by the way, you're incredible with."

"Thank you. And I want to meet her. I'm sure my mom and step-dad would love to meet you. My sister, too." Louis's eyes met Harry's. Harry looked serious. Louis couldn’t understand why. They were faking a relationship for school purposes. There was no reason to involve their families.

"Okay. I'll talk to my mom and you can come over for dinner sometime," Louis said, ignoring what Harry said about meeting his family.  

Before Harry could say anything, Louis's sisters walked into the kitchen. Louis grabbed cups from the cabinet, and Harry grabbed the carton of orange juice out of the fridge.

"Why are you still here?" Fizzy asked Harry.

"Mom called and said she'd be home later than we originally thought, so I couldn't take him home and leave you guys home alone," Louis answered. "We can drop him off on the way to the twins soccer game, if that's okay with you," Louis turned to Harry, who nodded in agreement.

"Can he come to my game, please?" Daisy begged.

"If you want me to," Harry said, directing it more towards Louis than Daisy. Louis shrugged. He had gotten used to spending time with Harry outside of school. And taking him to his sisters soccer game would really make it look like they were dating. They had to make a few public appearances as a couple to make it more realistic to people at school.

After breakfast, the girls scattered to get dressed and ready for the day. It was almost 10, and Louis still had to clean up and shower before leaving in an hour. He was stressed, and Harry could tell.

"Go get ready. I'll clean up," Harry assured him, and Louis thanked him.

He took a quick shower, before getting dressed. He put on a pair of black skinny jeans and a white long sleeve shirt. He slipped into vans and put his phone and wallet into his pocket. It was 10:45, and Fizzy was anxious to leave. Her friend lived twenty minutes away, and the girls were still running around. Lottie couldn’t decide what shoes matched her outfit more, and Phoebe couldn’t find her other shoe.

"Lou, why don’t you go ahead and drop Fizzy off, and then come back and pick us up for the game. Your car only fits five people and if we all went together, we wouldn’t all fit," Harry suggested, and Fizzy agreed. Louis decided that it was a good idea, and he promised the twins he would be back in time to take them to their game.

The idea of leaving Harry alone with his sisters didn’t even cross his mind. Harry fit in with them, and he liked them. Louis was relieved that Harry got along so well with his family.

When Louis came back to pick them up, they were all ready. The twins had their hair up, both of their cleats, and full water bottles. They also had a snack and a sweatshirt inside their soccer bags. Lottie was no longer complaining, and Harry had changed into the pair of jeans he wore to school the day before. He was holding his own soccer bag, which Louis forgot he had brought with him when he unexpected showed up on his doorstep the night before. Once the twins were buckled into their car seats, Lottie annoyed that she had to sit in the back middle, they were ready to go.

As he drove, Louis instinctively reached over to hold Harry's hand. They hadn’t held hands yet, but Louis's hand fit snug inside Harry's. Both Louis and Harry would subtly glance down at their entwined fingers and smile to themselves. Neither would ever say anything about it to each other, though.

When they got the soccer fields, Louis didn’t want to let go of Harry's hand. Harry offered to help with walking them over, but Louis told him to find them a seat. Lottie had already ran off to join her friends. Louis took one hand from each of the twins and led them over to the field. Most of the team was already there, along with their coaches.

"I'm actually here with my boyfriend, his twin sisters are on the team," Louis overheard Harry say to one of the moms sitting near hm. "No, we only recently started dating so I hadn't met his sisters until the other night. Oh, here he is now, Louis! Come sit."

"Hi, Harry," Louis smiled, instantly feeling better.

"Hi, Lou." Harry said as Louis sat down next to him. Harry wrapped his arm around his waist and kissed the top of his head. His arm stayed around Louis's waist throughout the whole game.

Harry continued to talk to the moms sitting around him. He would make jokes, and all of them would laugh. Louis was glad Harry had agreed to come, especially since he didn’t need to.

After the game, they took a quick trip for ice cream, since the girls won and Harry decided it was obligatory that they celebrate. Harry even offered to pay, since it was his idea. They walked into the small ice cream shop, and Harry reached for Louis's hand. Louis looked around, and saw that the two employees went to their school, so they had to act like a couple. 

"Hi, what can I get for you?" the girl asked, glancing down at their hands. 

"Girls, what do you do want?" Louis asked. 

After each of his sisters ordered, Harry turned to Louis. "What do you want, babe?" he asked, and Louis could feel his face turning red.

 "I'm good. I don’t want anything," he managed to get out. He let go of Harry's hand, and brought his sisters over to a table. The twins already had their ice cream, and Harry told Lottie he would bring hers over.

 "Lou, you're blushing. You like him," Lottie whispered.

"Shut up," he replied. 

"Aw, come on. It's cute. You two are so cute together." 

"A vanilla waffle cone with rainbow sprinkles, for you," Harry said, handing Lottie her ice cream and interrupting the awkward conversation between Louis and Lottie. "Lou, can you grab some napkins? Daisy is making a mess with her cone." Louis looked over and laughed. Sure enough, strawberry ice cream was dribbling down her face and on to her shirt. Louis grabbed a few napkins from the front counter, and returned to the table to hear Harry telling jokes. Daisy and Phoebe were dying laughing over them, and Louis can see Lottie trying to hide a smile. 

Once they all finished their ice creams, they piled back into the car. About halfway through the drive, Louis remembers he has to drop Harry off, and he got kind of sad about it. The drive to Harry's was filled with loud music and off-key singing. The twins loved it. 

"Jesus, your house is huge!" Lottie exclaimed, as Louis pulled up.

 "Let me grab your bag for you. You can say bye to my sisters" Louis said, getting out of the car. He popped the trunk and pulled Harry's soccer bag out. When he shut the trunk, he saw Harry trying to do a group hug without having to undone the twins from their car seats.

Harry pulled himself off of them, and climbed out of the car. He reached for the bag from Louis, but Louis shrugged. "I got it," he said. He wanted to walk Harry up to his door. He felt bad not doing that, especially after making him deal with his sisters all day. 

They walked up to Harry's front door, and Harry glanced back to Louis's car. He quickly pulled Louis and gave him a kiss, before walking inside. Louis was beyond confused. This was the second time Harry had broken the 'no kissing' rule from their contract. 

Moments later, as Louis was walking back to his car, he got a text from Harry: _sorry for breaking rule #1. had made a bet with lottie that we do, in fact, kiss. see u monday lou_

 

**…**

 

The next two weeks passed by slowly. Louis's mom was still eager to meet Harry, but their schedules would never line up. Louis's mom was working the night shift nearly every night, and the few days she wasn't, Louis had to work, or Harry would get hung up with soccer. 

Harry's team had a bye week last week, so there wasn't a game Friday afternoon for Louis to watch. There also wasn't an after party that Louis had to go to. Louis was somewhat relieved by that, but he also found himself itching to hang out with Harry again. They would sit together at lunch, and Louis was starting to get along with Harry's friends, but they didn’t really talk. Louis would move closer to Harry, or hold his hand, when Niall walked by them. 

"Lou," Harry smiled, walking over to Louis. It was Friday afternoon, meaning there was a soccer game tonight. "There's a party a Zayn's tonight. You're coming. It's in the contract." 

"Oh yeah?" Louis challenged, giving Harry a smirk. 

"Yes, Louis Tomlinson. I am taking you to Zayn's party tonight." 

"Well then I guess it's settled. What time is the party?"

"Starts at 9. So I'll pick you up at 9:30, since we can't get there first," Harry stated like it was the most obvious fact in the world.

"I'll see you tonight, then," Louis said, already knowing Harry was going to mention his soccer game.

"Not so fast, Lou. You have to come to my game. It's home, and it's a late start. Bring your sisters, too. I'm sure they miss me," Harry chuckled, but it was true. His sisters were constantly talking about the next time he would come over with them.

"They won't stop talking about you, actually. They want to have a family game night with you, and they don't even let their own friends or our cousins come to family game nights."

"I'm flattered. I would love nothing more than to come to your next one," Harry laughed, with a genuine smile. He would actually prefer a night in with Louis and his sisters playing board games than getting hammered at a party.

"I'll let them know. I'm sure they'll plan one right away," Louis said, and Harry laughed again.

"I would drop all of my plans to hang out with them," Harry said, honestly. Under his breath, he mumbled, "and you."

The conversation changed to talking about the twins soccer game tomorrow, and Harry asked if he could go.

"You willing want to watch six year olds play soccer? They don't even keep score, it's boring." Louis muttered.

"Hey. In case you forgot, we met because we coached kids together. And if they're going to come to my games to support their brother's fake boyfriend, then the least I could do is support them. Besides, you made them fun" Harry said truthfully, and Louis shrugged. He guessed Harry did have a point. "Okay, you can come. I don't really see how I could stop you from doing so, anyways," Louis laughed. 

Later that night, Louis was standing on the bleachers alongside his classmates and the twins. Lottie and Fizzy had plans with their friends, so they couldn't come. There was less than a minute left, and the game was tied. Louis glanced down at his phone to check the time, _6:38_ , and as soon as he did so, the bleachers erupted in cheers. He looked up at the scoreboard, and they were now winning. Everyone was chanting, counting down until the end, and the minute the clock hit zero, everyone cheered again. They flooded on to the field, celebrating. The team hadn't won a game all season, so everyone was beyond excited about this. Louis knew the party would be crazy tonight.

He stayed on the bleachers, his eyes searching for Harry's. He didn't want to drag the twins on to the field and have them get trampled by excited students. When his eyes met Harry's, he gave him a big smile and wave. Harry squeezed his way through the crowd of people, and made his way over to Louis.

"Hey, thanks for coming," Harry smiled, pulling Louis in for a hug. Louis hugged him back, "Anytime, Harry."

"And you two, thank you so much!" Harry exclaimed, sitting down on the benches of the bleachers to be eye-level with the twins. He held his arms out and engulfed them into a group hug.

"Great job, Harry!" Phoebe grinned.

"Yeah, you did incredible!" Daisy said.

"Well, I'm sure you two will be even better than I was, tomorrow," Harry laughed.

"You're coming?" they both yelled at the same time, and both Harry and Louis chuckled. Harry nodded, "I am. You two are going to be superstars one day."

"Harry, don't hype them up. They're six," Louis said, but Harry ignored him. "I'm telling you, you two are already better than half the guys on my team. But don’t tell them I said that. It'll be our secret," Harry said, and the two girls nodded.

Harry stood up, and followed Louis down the bleachers. Harry grabbed Louis's hand to hold while they walked over to the locker room.

Louis and Harry had made a compromise to the contract earlier today. Louis said that Harry would be able to kiss him once if they won their game. And since they won, Harry obviously had to kiss Louis in front of everybody. The crowd had started to thin, but there were still parents waiting to pick up their kids.

"I'll pick you up at 9:30. No need to wait around for me to shower. My mom came, and she's taking me out to dinner. I'll text you if I'm running late," Harry said, his grip on Louis's hand tightening.

"Sounds great, I'll see you later," Louis whispered.

Harry bent down to give the twins another hug. He then pulled Louis in for one, this one lasting significantly longer than any of the ones they had shared before. Harry leaned in, pressing his lips softly on Louis's. Louis kissed him back. The kiss was short lived, and Louis pushed Harry off of him. Louis made a joke about how sweaty and gross Harry was, and Harry just chuckled. "See you tonight, babe," he yelled with a small laugh, as he walked into the locker room.

Louis grabbed one hand of each of the twins, and they started walking over to his car, but a voice from behind him stopped him.

"Are you Louis?" the voice asked. Louis turned around to see an older woman, who looked to be a parent.

"Yes, I am. And you are?"

 "Anne. I'm Harry's mom," she started, and Louis froze. Anne held out a hand for Louis to shake, and he obliged. He did not want to meet Harry's family without Harry. "I've heard so much about you, Lou. Harry talks about you constantly. Are you doing anything tonight? Harry and I are going to get dinner, I'm sure he would love it if you came along," she rambled.

"Oh, uh, I would love to, really. But my mom's working late, so I have to make dinner for my sisters," Louis lied. His mom called him an hour ago to ask if the twins wanted pasta or chicken for dinner.

"No worries. I'm sure we can go for dinner another night. I'm just so excited to finally meet you. You make Harry so happy," Anne smiled politely.

"Happy to meet you too, Anne." Louis offered his hand again, but Anne pulled him in for a hug.

After she walked away, Louis pulled his phone out to text Harry: **I just met ur mom ??**

Moments later, he got a reply from Harry: _god, what did she do?_

 **She invited me to go to dinner with you guys…also said you talk about me all the time**  

_Are you gonna come? and she's so embarrassing, I think I've mentioned you maybe three times_

**Lied and said I had to cook for the twins. Felt bad saying yes without your approval**

_Don't be stupid. She thinks we're dating, you should come. It'll make her happy._

**I cant show up if I told her I couldn’t, that makes me look bad**

_Fine. I'll talk to her and we'll do dinner another night_

Louis read Harry's text, and then slipped his phone into his pocket. It was already 7:00, and the girls wanted to get home. He held their hands as they walked to the car, and he buckled them into their car seats. 

By the time they had gotten home, dinner was already packed away in the fridge. Louis reheated a few things, and made himself a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. He carried it into his room, and nearly dropped it when he saw someone standing there.

"Surprise!" Liam yelled, holding his arms out for a hug. Louis put his food on his desk, and nearly tackled Liam to the floor.

"Holy fuck, I missed you," Louis shouted, hugging him tighter. "What are you doing here?"

"I got the love letter you wrote me," Liam chuckled. "Figured it was time for you to have a heart to heart with your old best friend."

"Oh god, that's so embarrassing," Louis groaned. "It was a moment of weakness," Louis tried to defend himself.

"Relax, I know you weren't really in love with me. Besides, you and I both know that I'm into girls. We do, however, have to talk about you," Liam paused. "A little birdie, that being your mom, told me that you have a boyfriend. While I am thoroughly disappointed you are no longer in love with me with your, and I quote, entire heart and soul, I cannot believe you didn’t tell me that you had a boyfriend."

"Did I really say I loved you with my entire heart and soul? God, what was wrong with me," Louis sighed. "I didn’t tell you I had a boyfriend, because," Louis paused. He couldn’t believe he was about to break one the rules of the contract. He couldn't lie to Liam though. He needed to be honest. "I didn’t tell you that I had a boyfriend because it's a fake relationship," Louis admitted.

"What?" Liam shouted.

"Shhh. Keep it down. It's a secret."

"Give me the full story, now."

"Okay, okay. Just, no judgement." Liam nodded, and Louis continued, "I didn’t just write a letter to you. I wrote two others. And they both got mailed. I wrote one to Harry Styles and one to Niall Horan. Harry got one because I thought I was in love with him that summer I worked with him and we kissed. I wrote one to Niall after junior prom. I asked him to be my date, but I was too afraid to ever make a move. I thought I was in love with him as well. Anyways, Harry wanted to talk to me about the letter, and Niall was walking down the hall, holding his letter, and I panicked and kissed Harry to make it seem like I wasn't interested in Niall anymore. Harry and I decided to fake a relationship so Niall wouldn't try and ask me about the letter, but we made up a bullshitted story to tell Niall if he ever asks. He hasn't. Which, now that I think about it, there's no reason to continue to fake a relationship if Niall doesn’t care," Louis explained. He went into details about their contract, how they were going to keep things school related, and not get their families involved, how Harry showed up at his doorstep so help babysit so he wasn't lying to his teammates. Louis explained everything. And Liam just listened.

"You two really thought about everything," Liam sighed, after hearing everything.

"Well, we kind of had to. It had to seem realistic. People, Niall specifically, had to believe us."

"And? Has it worked? Do people believe you? Aside from Niall, since he hasn’t said anything to you yet," Liam asked, and Louis nodded.

"Yes. Everyone thinks we're dating. And Niall did say stuff. He talked to me about getting a letter, he just doesn't seem jealous. I mean, we started the whole fake relationship so Niall wouldn’t say anything. I wanted him to know I used to like him but that I don't anymore. I wanted him to be jealous when he found out I was dating someone and made him find out that I used to be in love with him on the same day."

"God, Lou, you're so complicated. Why couldn't you just be honest with Niall from the beginning?"

"I don’t know, Liam. I'm not a love expert. I've never dated anyone before. I don’t know how this shit works," Louis sighed loudly.

Liam tried to convince Louis that fake dating Harry wasn't going to do him any good if he was still pining over Niall, since Niall didn’t seem to care.

Their conversation was interrupted by Louis's phone ringing. It was Harry.

"Hey, Lou. I'm on my way over now," Harry said, his voice sounding slower than it did in real life.

"Okay. I need to talk to you when you get here, by the way. It's nothing serious, just need to talk," Louis answered.

"You're scaring me, Lou, but okay. I'll be there in five," Harry said before hanging up.

Louis tossed his phone on to his bed, and pulled his t-shirt off. He grabbed a white Adidas t-shirt and changed into black skinny jeans. His hair was messy, but he didn’t know what to do with it. He laced up a pair of black vans.

"I need to make an appearance at Harry's friend's party. Are you fine staying here alone? You can come along if you want?" Louis asked Liam, but Liam shook his head.

"I was gonna head out anyways. I told my mom I wouldn't be out too late. Come by for dinner tomorrow night, I'm sure she'd love to see you," Liam said, and Louis agreed. He had forgotten that Liam only moved away because his parents got a divorce. Liam didn’t have the best relationship with his mom; they fought constantly. So when the divorce was finalized, Liam moved in with his dad, and, in turn, leaving Louis.

Louis's phone buzzed again, indicating that Harry was here. "Come on, I'll walk you out. You can meet Harry too, if you want," Louis suggested, and Liam followed him. 

Harry was parked outside Louis's house in a small black car. He rolled the window down to wave to Liam.

"Harry, this is Liam. My best friend. Liam, this is Harry. My boyfriend," Louis stated, and the boys exchanged greetings. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, Li?" Louis asked, and Liam nodded. Liam walked across the grass and down two houses to his mom's house. 

Louis slid into the front seat of Harry's car.

"Hi, Lou," Harry smiled. "What did you want to talk about? And why didn’t you tell me you had a friend from out of town visiting? I wouldn't have made you come to my game or the party."

"It was a surprise visit, so I didn’t know he was coming," Louis paused. He didn't know what to say next. "I broke a rule," he blurt out.

"What?" Harry asked, confused. Louis was never one to break rules, unless it was coming to games or parties, and he always had a valid excuse for those.

"I told Liam that we were faking it. He kept asking me questions about you and how we started, and he brought up his letter. It happened so quickly, and I feel so bad. I shouldn’t have ever said anything to him." Louis rambled.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We all slip up sometimes. I do, however, have an idea."

"What would that be?" Louis asked. He had no idea what to expect when it came to Harry.

"I get to break rule number one as often as I want until midnight. And then we'll talk about if I think we're even." Louis thought about it for a few moments, before agreeing. There were worse things in the world than having to kiss Harry Styles whenever he wanted a kiss.

As they drove over to Zayn's, Harry reached for Louis's hand, and Louis let him take it. Even though there was no one in the car, and there was no reason for them to hold hands, they did so anyways. The party was in full swing when they arrived, and the door flung open before Harry could knock. Louis tightened his grip on Harry's hand. He was afraid to lose Harry in the crowd, since he barely knew anyone here.

"Harry! How the hell are you?" Zayn yelled over the loud music. Harry gave him a smile, and pushed his way into the crowded house, pulling Louis along.

Harry ran into a few other friends, and he stopped to talk to a couple guys on the soccer team. Eventually, the two made it to the backyard. Louis lingered around the beer pong table, while Harry went to get him a drink. Harry was driving, so he wasn't drinking, but he was making Louis have at least one drink. Louis talked to a few of Harry's friends, but mostly he just congratulated the guys on the soccer team on their win, before turning his attention to someone else. He was trying to be polite, but being sober and surrounded by drunks was not ideal. 

Harry returned a few minutes later, and Louis couldn't have been more relieved. Harry passed him a red solo cup, and leaned in for a kiss. There were a few people watching them, so Louis couldn’t leave him hanging. And besides, Harry had until midnight to get as many kisses as he wanted.

"Thanks, babe," Louis smirked, leaning in and giving Harry a kiss. They had to put on a show, had to make everyone believe that they were dating. Harry's hand moved to Louis's lower waist, and Louis had to hide his smile. He would occasionally reach up and run his fingers through Harry's curls, and then Harry would lean in for a kiss. They had spent more of the night talking to only each other, the only reason Harry ever left Louis's side was to get Louis another drink. They mostly kept to themselves, only talking to a few of Harry's close friends and the people who would randomly approach Harry. Harry kept his arm around Louis's waist, to keep him from running off, at least, that's what he told himself. The truth was, Harry liked being close to, and holding, Louis, more than he should, since they were only pretending to date.

"Your hair is pretty," Louis drunkenly mumbled, putting his drink on the table and running his fingers through Harry's hair. Harry chuckled, by continued to let Louis play with his hair. They had been so wrapped up with each other, that Harry didn’t hear Zayn yelling for him.

"Harry. Jesus, I've been looking for you all night," Zayn muttered, when he finally found them. "Do you guys wanna smoke with me and a few of the other guys on the team? James got the good stuff"

"I'm driving, so I'm staying sober tonight. Sorry man. Lou, do you want to smoke with them? I can come find you later," Harry said, but Louis shrugged him off. The idea of Louis smoking while being this drunk didn't settle well in Harry's stomach, and he was hoping Louis would say no. He did not want to deal with a cross-faded Louis.

"I'm alright. Would rather stay with you," he murmured, resting his head on Harry's chest. Louis suddenly felt tired, and his eyelids began to droop closed. He wanted to stay this close to Harry all night.

"Suit yourself," Zayn sighed, before turning around and walking away to rejoin his group of friends, who were sitting around the fire pit. Most of the people left at the party were guys from the soccer team. There were a few stragglers, but they looked like they were ready to pass out or they were making the rounds and saying goodbye.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Niall staring at them. When Niall noticed Harry looking at him, he quickly shifted his gaze. Harry was giving Niall a death glare, a warning to stay away from him and Louis. Niall quickly stood from his seat around the fire, and starting saying goodbyes before leaving. Harry couldn't tell if Niall was jealous or annoyed, but either way, seeing Louis being clingy with Harry rubbed Niall the wrong way, which was the intention of the fake relationship to begin with. Niall had been itching to talk to Louis alone, but his conversation with Harry a few days ago made him keep his distance.

"So, you're a clingy drunk," Harry laughed, helping Louis, who was six drinks in, stand up straight. "But I don’t mind. I kind of like it actually."

This time, Louis leaned in for a kiss. He was wasted, and he was completely unaware of what he was doing. Harry gave him a quick peck, before deciding it was best to have Louis sit down, since Louis's breath reeked of tequila. Louis could barely walk, and Harry kept his arm around Louis's waist as they walked away from the crowd of people. Harry wrapped his arms around Louis and helped him sit down. Louis curled up in a ball, wrapping his arms around Harry. Harry couldn’t help but smile.

 "Harry," Louis whispered.

 "Hmm," Harry hummed, but got no response. Instead, Louis had fallen asleep, his head buried in Harry's chest. Harry listened to the hum of Louis's breath and held the drunk boy tightly.

 After letting Louis sleep on his chest for a little while, Harry noticed that there was no one outside by the fire anymore. He figured they all went inside, and decided he would take Louis home.

 "Lou," he said quietly, nudging Louis awake. "Come on, let's get out of here."

 Louis's  eyes fluttered opened, and he looked confused. Harry stood up first, brushing himself off, before grabbing both of Louis's hands, and pulling him up. Louis wobbled for a few seconds, trying to balance himself. Louis only let go of one of Harry's hands, clinging tightly to the other one.

 Harry led the way into the kitchen, searching for a water or Gatorade to give Louis. Harry found water bottles in the fridge, and grabbed a few. Louis had his elbows propped up on the counter, his head resting in his hands.

 "Here," Harry said, handing Louis an opened water bottle. "Don't chug."

 "Thank you," Louis mumbled, taking the water from Harry. He brought it up to his mouth slowly, and took a few sips.

 After Louis finished most of his water, Harry helped him down the steps and out to the car. Harry opened the door for Louis, who still couldn’t stand up without stumbling. Louis managed to make it in to the car, and Harry had to double check that he had his seat belt on.

 The drive back to Louis's was silent, since Louis was fast asleep. Harry glanced at the clock, it was 3:18am. He wondered if Louis's mom would be upset about them coming home this late. He thought that he could just bring Louis back to his house, but he decided against that. Louis needed to get home, sooner rather than later.

 "Lou, wake up," Harry said, as he turned into the driveway. Louis groaned, and he unbuckled his seat belt. He stumbled out of the car, and made it about four steps before Harry got out to help him. "I got you," he whispered, his hand on Louis's lower waist.

 Louis was half asleep, still in his shoes and jeans, sprawled across his bed. Harry chuckled to himself, and sat on the edge of Louis's bed, pulling Louis's sneakers off. As Harry got up to leave, he heard Louis mumble something under his breath.

 "What?" Harry asked.

 "Think I'm gonna be sick," Harry heard, more audible this time.

 "Okay, come on." Harry wrapped his arms around Louis and helped him stand. They made it to the bathroom, and Louis was balled up on the floor. "Sit up, Lou." He helped Louis re-position himself to be draped over the toilet in case he did throw up. Harry flicked the light on, and sat down on the floor next to Louis, resting a hand on his lower back.

"You don't have to stay. You aren’t really my boyfriend," Louis said quietly. "No one's around. You don’t have to act anymore."

"Louis, I'm not leaving you alone," Harry sighed. Louis seemed annoyed that Harry wanted to help him.

 "But you have no reason to be here. You're just my fake boyfriend," Louis argued.

 "Hey, where's all this coming from?" Harry was genuinely confused. He didn’t know what he did wrong, what he did to made Louis annoyed.

 "I don't know. I've just been thinking about us. I talked Liam about Niall. He's not even jealous about us, so there's no reason to even be faking it." Louis rambled. Harry blinked slowly, trying to understand what Louis was talking about. Harry wasn't sure how much Louis meant, since he was completely drunk.

"What do you mean Niall isn't jealous? He looks like he wants to kill me every time I see him," Harry said, and Louis's head shot up.  "He was staring at us when you fell asleep on me at Zayn's, and as soon I noticed, he got up and left. If anything, us faking dating is working more than it was before." Harry added, absentmindedly rubbing Louis's back. 

Louis said something inaudible, but Harry let it go. He didn’t want to fight anymore, and they had hardly even fought. 

They spent the next few hours cooped up in the bathroom, with Louis hunched over the toilet. Each time he thought he felt better, he would get dizzy trying to stand, so him and Harry fell asleep on the tile floor. Louis woke up with Harry's arm draped over him and a pounding headache. He forced himself to sit up, and let out a loud groan, waking Harry in the process.

 "Sorry, didn’t mean to wake up," Louis said shyly.

 "No worries. It's hard to sleep on a tile floor sober anyways," Harry shrugged, sitting up. Louis let out a small laugh. "How are you feeling?"

 "Could be better," Louis admitted. "Head is pounding."

 "Well that's expected when you drink as much tequila as you did. You practically drank the entire bottle."

 "And whose fault would that be?"

"To be fair, you kept asking for another drink," Harry retorted, and Louis put his hands up as if to surrender. "Take a shower, Lou. I'll make you a coffee." Louis nodded, and Harry stood up and walked out of the bathroom, leaving Louis alone.

 "Oh, hello," Harry heard a startled voice say as he walked into the kitchen.

 "Hi, uh, I'm Harry," Harry said, sticking his hand out to shake hands with the woman in the kitchen, who, he assumed, was Louis's mom.

 "I'm Jay, Louis's mom. When did you get here? It's only seven."

 "I dropped Louis off around three thirty. He had a few too many drinks last night, and I didn’t want to leave him until I knew he was going to be okay," Harry explained.

"That's sweet. I'm sure he'll be fine. He has to take the twins to their soccer game this afternoon. I agreed to work a double last night," Jay rambled, similar to Louis, before excusing herself to get ready and leave for work.

 Harry made both Louis and himself a cup of coffee, and sat down at the table.

 The day flew by. Harry spent the morning making breakfast for Louis's sisters, while he slept his hangover off. He helped the twins get ready for their game, and he offered to drop Lottie and Fizzy off at their friends house so they didn’t have to sit through the game in the rain. While he was doing everything, Louis's voice echoed in the back of his head: "But you have no reason to be here. You're just my fake boyfriend." Just thinking about it made Harry feel bad. He knew that they  were faking it, but he was still a good person. He wanted to be supportive, and if anything, he wanted Louis to see him as a friend.

 

**…**

 

Over the course of the next month, Harry sort of distanced himself from Louis. They would sit together at lunch, like always, but they hardly talked aside from making small talk at the lunch table. Louis would show up to soccer games and pretend to be supportive, but he mostly went for the twins. God, Louis didn't even want to think about how the twins would react when him and Harry decided to call it quits on their fake relationship. Harry couldn't shake the feeling that Louis didn’t care about him, and decided they needed to talk, alone. 

They hadn't had a genuine conversation about anything that mattered since around Halloween. Zayn was hosting a Halloween costume party, and Harry had to beg Louis to come, and then had to beg him to do a couples costume. Louis was against it at first, but Harry promised he would help Louis take his sisters trick or treating if he came, and Louis desperately needed the help handling the twins. So, Louis caved. And ended up cross-faded at Zayn's party. He clung to Harry for nearly the entire night, and at one point he decided to tell Harry everything about him. He pulled Harry into an empty bedroom, and when everyone thought they were hooking up, Louis was telling Harry about how shitty his home life was. How his birth father walked out on him and his mom, and how his step-dad did the same thing a few after the twins were born. Louis talked about how his mom works too much, and that he feels like he has to raise his sisters. He talked about feeling all this pressure to be the best role model. And Harry mostly listened. When Louis was done talking about the pressures of his home life, Harry talked about the pressures he felt from soccer. He was one of the captains, and had to be a consistently good role model. He talked about potentially playing in college, but that he didn’t know if he was ready to commit. They both confessed their dark secrets to each other, ones they hadn’t told anyone else before. That night, Harry was vulnerable than he's ever been before, but he felt comfortable. There was a level of mutual trust between them, like they both knew any secrets they told each other would stay secrets. And Harry liked it. He liked feeling safe and he liked having someone he could trust in his life.

But, Harry decided to clear everything up tonight. Zayn's first party was the week before the Halloween one, and with Thanksgiving quickly approaching, they needed to talk. Harry's mom desperately wanted to formally meet Louis, and has been asking to have him over for dinner when his sister, Gemma, was home from college for a break.

"What's up guys?" Harry asked, walking up to the lunch table, where Louis was already siting. "Can I talk to you for a minute, babe?" he asked, this time his voice was quiet, and was meant only for Louis to hear. Louis nodded, grabbing his stuff and excusing himself from the conversation. Louis reached out to hold Harry's hand since they were around other people, but Harry subtly shook his head and Louis dropped his hand. He followed Harry into an empty hallway.

"Is everything alright, Harry?" Louis asked, concerned. His mind was racing at what Harry wanted to talk about.

Harry nodded, "Just have a lot on my mind right now. Need to get some things off my chest."

"What do you want to talk about? Did I do something?"

"Yes, well, sort of. You said something the first time we went to one of Zayn's parties and it’s been bugging me ever since. You were completely hammered, so I know I shouldn't think too much into it, but you know what they say. Drunk words are sober thoughts and all that shit," Harry rambled.

"You're right, I was hammered, and I have recollection of that night, so I promise, whatever I said, I didn't mean."

"You said that I had no reason to help you when you were sick because we're only fake dating," Harry hissed, lowering his voice even though no one was around. "I don’t know. There was something about the way you said that made me think you didn’t even consider me your friend. Like I was only relevant to you when you needed someone to act like your boyfriend."  His eyes darted to Louis's, trying to gage Louis's reaction. His eyes were dull, and had no expression. Harry didn’t know how to interpret Louis's response.

"God, Harry. Is that why you've been acting so distant lately?" Harry nodded, and Louis felt his heart sink a little. "I'm so sorry. I really am. I didn't mean that at all. I'm sorry I made you think you didn't matter to me," Louis explained. 

"That's not all," Harry spoke, quietly.

"Oh, what other dumb shit did I say?"

"You said you think we should end things, since our master plan of making Niall jealous wasn't working. But it is working. And I told you that, so we didn’t break up, but I just wanted to ask you about it again. Sober."

"I mean, uh, if you think it’s working, then there's no reason to stop, I suppose. I haven't heard anything from Niall, and I never see him, so I don’t know how he's reacting. If you know he's jealous, then we should keep this up," Louis answered, sounding unsure of his response.

"And another thing," Harry added. Louis looked up at him, waiting to hear what he had to say. "My mom insists on having you over for dinner. More specifically, Thanksgiving. We do it small, just my mom and my older sister. My step-dad will be away, so you don't have to meet him. It's not really a holiday, it's just a fancy family dinner. Don’t feel pressured to say yes, I know we're fake dating and holidays aren't in the contract," Harry's voice trailed off.

"Funny you should say. My mom asked me the other day if you would be joining us for Thanksgiving. I know you've already met all my family, and we already did the whole dinner with the parents that real couples do, but my mom adores you. My whole family does, really." Louis laughed. "But, yes. I'll come over for Thanksgiving dinner, since your mom insists."

"You will?" Harry asked, genuinely surprised.

"Of course," Louis nodded. "And you? Do you want to come over and hang out with my family? We usually do dessert and family game night after dinner with my extended family. You obviously don’t have to come and meet the whole family. I figured we can do dinner with your family first and then hang out with my family after everyone else left."

"I'd love to come. And I'm excited for family game night, I'm going to win all the games. I'm very competitive" Harry replied with a grin, which made Louis feel happy. He was glad they were able to get along, and that there wasn't any more unexplained awkwardness.

They walked hand in hand pack into the cafeteria. Harry was grinning like an idiot, and the people they walked past probably thought they had just hooked up in the bathroom or something. Everything felt normal again, and neither Harry nor Louis could be happier.

 

**…**

 

By the time Thanksgiving arrived, Louis and Harry had their whole day planned out. Harry was going to come over in the morning to help make pies, at the request of the twins. He promised to make them pancakes for breakfast, despite Louis trying to talk him out of it. After spending the morning at Louis's, they were going to go to Harry's for dinner at three. They then planned to wait it out until most of Louis's family left, before going back over for dessert and board games. 

Harry was over at 9am, even though Louis tell him not to come until at least 10. "Lou, I was already up. I wasn't going to sit around at home doing nothing, when we have pies to make." Louis just rolled his eyes at Harry's logic, and let him in the house. All of his sisters were still asleep, and Harry decided to wait on making pancakes until he had the twins to help him. Louis handed Harry a mug filled with coffee, as Harry made himself comfortable on the kitchen counter. He kicked his shoes off with a smirk, and Louis sighed. Harry knew that messes bothered Louis, and Louis immediately picked Harry's shoes up and placed them on the mat by the door.

 They spent about an hour just talking, and for a moment, Louis had the urge to kiss Harry for no reason. Harry was still perched on the counter, talking, but Louis didn't know what he was saying. He was distracted by Harry's lips, and he found himself staring at them.

 "Lou," Harry said, snapping Louis back to reality.

 "What?" Louis asked.

 "Ready to get started on breakfast? I just told Daisy and Phoebe to wash their hands so they could help make pancakes."

 "You spoil them, Harry. And we aren’t even in a real relationship. I wonder how you would treat them if we were actually dating."

 "We don’t have to be dating for me to be nice to them. Besides, I have to be extra nice to them today since I'm going to win family game night," Harry chuckled.

 "Oh hush. We're all competitive, I doubt you even have a chance at winning against Fizzy," Louis teased, and Harry looked offended.

 "Take that back right now, Tomlinson." he shouted, jumping down from the counter top and tackling Louis to the ground.

 "Never," Louis whispered, his face only inches from Harry's. The urge to kiss him surfaced again, but Louis brushed it off.

 "Ew, gross," Daisy squealed as she walked into the kitchen and saw Harry on top of Louis, interrupting the moment. Phoebe, on the other hand, decided to join in, and jumped on Harry's back. Harry's laugh was low, and he pretended to collapse on top of Louis from the weight of the young girl. Phoebe erupted into a fit of laughter, and Daisy wanted to join in on the fun, and got on to Harry's back as well.

 "What's going on out here?" Louis's mom asked, walking in to the kitchen and seeing the group sprawled across the floor.

 "We were just about to make pancakes, and then get started on dessert. Wanna help?" Louis said. Jay shook her head, telling Louis she would wake Lottie and Fizzy up to have them help and that she would need them done with desserts by noon so she could get started on dinner. Louis glanced over to the clock, it was 10:15.

 An hour later, the girls were eating chocolate chip pancakes in the dining room, and Louis and Harry were prepping to make desserts. They laid out all of the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, an apple pie, and a pumpkin pie. Harry decided that Fizzy and Lottie would each have the responsibility of making pies and that he would help the twins with the cookies. They set up stations, with pre-measured ingredients and a copy of the recipe, to make the process a lot faster.

 "We should make a pie to bring to your house," Louis said.

 "My mom's probably making a million, but it can't hurt. She'll appreciate it," Harry replied with a smile. They agreed on an apple pie, since Louis doesn’t like pecan and Harry doesn't like pumpkin.

 Cooking four desserts at once was beyond stressful. All of his sisters questioned everything before they added an ingredient.

 "Just the follow the recipe, guys. Everything is already laid out, it's not that complicated," Louis sighed. The kitchen was far too small for six people, but Louis was glad to have Harry around to keep him calm. Harry just had this ability to make everything run smoothly and in a timely manner. He knew how to take control, without coming off as arrogant, which is exactly why he was captain of the soccer team. He was good at helping, and Louis was so thankful for him.

 When the pies were baking and the cookie dough was already scooped out on to baking sheets and put into the freezer so Jay could pop them into the oven when they were ready for dessert, Louis decided to take a shower. Harry hung around and played with the twins.

 Twenty minutes later, Louis had finished showering, and was deciding on what to wear. He stood in his room with a towel wrapped around his waist.

 "Harry," he yelled down the hall. "Do I need to dress up for dinner?" Moments later, Louis heard Harry's footsteps coming down the hall.

 "Just wear, like, a button-down shirts and jeans," Harry shrugged. "That's what I'm wearing, at least."

 Louis dug through his closet. He contemplated between black jeans and a maroon shirt or blue jeans with a navy one, but decided on the first choice. He slipped on loafers, since his vans were too casual. He added a black watch, and rejoined Harry, who was waiting in the living room. Louis slid on to the couch next to Harry, who was playing candy land with Daisy and Phoebe. Phoebe was in the lead, but Harry was right behind her.

 "You clean up nicely," Harry smiled, and Louis blushed. "The pie should be done soon, and then we can head over. My mom said dinner wasn't until three, but you said your family starts showing up around two so we can leave before they get here if you don't want me to meet them."

 "Oh, um, totally up to you if you want to meet them. Really, it doesn’t matter to me." Louis managed to get out. He didn't know if he actually wanted Harry to meet his family, since meeting the family wasn't something fake boyfriends did.

 "I don't have to," Harry reassured him, sensing that Louis felt uncomfortable with him meeting the family. Louis just nodded, and rested his head on Harry's chest.

"Your hair smells really nice," Harry whispered, with a smile.

 "Perks of living with only girls, I guess," Louis said smugly. "Get to use their expensive shampoo and conditioners."

 They spent the next hour cuddling on the couch, Louis watching TV and Harry playing games with Daisy and Phoebe. The pie had been finished for a while, but both Louis and Harry were too comfortable to get up. Eventually, Harry finished his fifth round of Candy Land with a tough loss, before standing up and stretching. It was almost two, which meant Louis's family would be showing up soon, so they decided to leave and head over to Harry's.

 Louis grabbed the freshly made pie off the counter, and gave his mom a quick kiss on the cheek, before they headed out. On the car ride over, they held hands, even though they were alone.

 Pulling up to Harry's, Louis felt his chest tighten and he found himself struggling to catch his breath.

 "Lou, are you okay?" Harry asked, turning to face Louis.

 "Uh, yeah. Just a little nervous to meet your family," Louis forced a smile. Having dinner with Harry's family made their fake relationship seem a whole lot realer.

 "You'll be fine. I'm sure they'll love you," Harry reassured him, and out of instinct, pulled Louis into a hug. He ran his hand up and down Louis's back, trying to calm him down. Louis felt relieved, and let out a few deep breaths. "Feeling better?" Louis nodded, and they climbed out of the car.

Louis held the pie in one hand and Harry's hand in the other. Harry led him up the walkway. "You ready?" Harry whispered, and Louis nodded. Harry pushed the front door open, and Louis followed him into the kitchen. Harry's house was huge, Louis thought he would get lost inside.

"Mom," Harry shouted, "Louis's here."

"I'll be down in one second," Harry's mom yelled back, and Harry nodded.

"Do you want anything?" Harry asked, turning to Louis. "Water, a snack?" Louis just shook his head, putting the pie down on the island in the center of the kitchen.

"Lou, if you don't want to do this, we don’t have to. I know meeting my parents isn't in the contract. I can take you home and tell them you weren't feeling well."

"Harry, I'll be fine. I've just never been in a relationship, real or fake, so I've never had to meet anyone's parents. It's nerve racking to meet them in such a formal setting," Louis sighed.

"Come here," Harry whispered, pulling Louis in for a hug. "It's going to be okay, I promise." Louis felt a lot better when Harry's arms were wrapped around him. Having Harry with him gave him a sense of comfort.

Their hug was interrupted by Harry's mom, "Hello boys."

"Hi, mom" Harry said, waving to her.

"Louis, so nice to meet you, again," Anne smiled.

"Nice to see you, too," Louis said, putting his hand out to shake hers, but she pulled him in for a hug.

"Sorry, I'm a hugger," she laughed.

"I know where you get it from now, babe," Louis joked, turning to Harry with a smile. Harry tried to hold back a grin.

"Dinner should be ready soon. Harry, do you want to change?" Anne asked, looking down at Harry's open flannel and t-shirt covered in flour from making cookies earlier. Harry nodded, and motioned for Louis to follow him upstairs with him.

"You have your own bathroom?" Louis gasped, when Harry opened the door to his bedroom, and Harry chuckled.

"You can sit on the bed and make yourself comfortable, I won’t take that long," Harry said, and Louis walked further into the room.

Harry had a king size bed on one side of the room, and a desk on the other. He had a window with a built in ledge, so one could sit and look out the window. Louis ran his fingers across the wood of the ledge. There was a stack of books at the edge of the ledge. Louis was mesmerized by Harry's room. There were pages torn from journals scattered across his desk. Louis felt bad looking through Harry's things, but Harry left them all out in the open. He heard the shower turn off, and he started to pull away from the desk, but something caught his eye.

The envelope of the letter Louis wrote confessing his love for Harry was sticking out of a black journal. It looked like it was being used as a bookmark, and it took everything in Louis to not open the journal. He wasn't going to invade Harry's privacy like that.

Louis moved away from the desk, and sat down on the bed. A few minutes later, Harry came out in black skinny jeans, a royal blue button down, and black boots. His eyes popped in that color blue, and Louis found himself smiling.

"Ready to go face the family?" Harry asked, and Louis nodded. He couldn’t get his mind off of what Harry wrote about in his journal and why he kept the letter, but he didn’t want to bring it up.

He followed Harry back downstairs, and as they walked into the kitchen, Harry's older sister was sitting there.

"Gemma, this is Lou," Harry said with a smile, grabbing Louis's hand and guiding him closer to her.

"Hi, Louis. Nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you," Gemma beamed, and Harry blushed. He didn’t talk about Louis that much, or at least he didn't think he did. 

"Nice to meet you too, Gemma."

"Well, now that introductions are done, shall we get started with dinner?" Anne asked, and everyone agreed.

 Dinner went by rather quickly, and Louis found himself feeling comfortable around Harry's family. His mom and sister were so sweet, and they didn't grill him with questions. The conversation between them felt natural, and Louis couldn’t stop smiling throughout dinner.

 When Anne and Gemma went to do the dishes and get dessert ready, Harry turned to Louis.

 "That wasn't that bad, was it?" he asked, curious.

 "No, not nearly as bad as I thought it would be," Louis smiled. 

"Good. I'm glad they like you. And I'm glad you came," Harry whispered, squeezing Louis's hand. "I'm thankful for you." Louis's cheeks were burning. It was only the two of them around, so Harry had to be serious about that.

 "Are you two staying for dessert, or do you need to get back to Louis's?" Anne asked, interrupting the moment.

 Louis and Harry exchanged a quick glance at each other, and they were both on the same page when Harry said they would be heading back to Louis's.

 "It was lovely to meet you, Louis. You're welcome back anytime," Anne said, giving Louis a big hug.

 "I'd love to come back," Louis replied, and he honestly meant it.

 "Bye, H. Bye, Lou," Gemma pulled the two into a group hug.

 When Louis and Harry finally escaped from the many more hugs they had gotten, they walked out to the car, and headed over to Louis's house. They pulled up to Louis's, and nearly all of his family had left already. The only car left was his grandmother, and she usually stayed late.

 "My grandmother's still here. I've never brought someone home for the holidays. She's going to be so disappointed that she didn't meet you sooner. I'm sure my sisters talked to her about you, so she's going to want to meet you. We can drive around for a while and wait for her to leave. Or we can sneak you in through the basement and I'll get you when she leaves," Louis rambled.

 "It's okay. I'll meet her," Harry reassured him, giving his hand a tight squeeze. He was secretly hoping to meet some of Louis's family tonight.

 "Are you sure? You don't have to."

 "I'm sure. Come on. Let's do this." Harry smiled, shutting the car off. They climbed out and rejoined hands to walk up to the front door.

 "Harry's back," Phoebe shouted as Louis pushed the door open. She sprinted across the living room to hug Harry.

 "Hi, Phoebe. I missed you," Harry laughed, bending down and opening his arms to hug her. Louis couldn't help but laugh at how excited his sister had gotten to see Harry, and he felt his stomach drop at the thought of all his sisters not seeing him again when they broke up. 

"Louis, hello," his grandmother said, giving him a hug. "And who is this young man?" 

"Hi, I'm Harry. Lou's boyfriend," Harry grinned, standing back up and giving Louis's grandmother a hug. 

"Lovely to meet you, Harry. But Lou, this is the first I'm hearing of any boyfriend," she turned to face Louis, who blushed. 

"It happened pretty quickly, and I wanted to keep it a surprise," Louis lied, but Harry butted in. "We only recently made things exclusive. He just met my mom for the first time today, too." 

"Well, I am so happy for you two. You look so happy, Lou." she smiled, and Louis blushed again. His hand had rejoined Harry's, and Harry squeezed it. "Thank you for making him so happy, Harry."

"How could he not be happy around me?" Harry joked, flashing his smile and dimples.

"Oh, shut up," Louis laughed.

They spent most of the night eating the desserts they made earlier and playing board games. After the twins went to sleep and Fizzy and Lottie were watching a movie in the living room, Harry and Louis were sitting around the kitchen table with Louis's mom and grandmother. It was nearly ten at night, but they were nearing the end of an intense scrabble game. Harry had a smug look on his face, and Louis knew Harry was about to play a word and win the game. And sure enough, the next word Harry played put him into the lead. Shortly after they finished the game and Louis's grandmother left, Louis's mom started to clean up.

"Do you need any help?" Harry asked, carrying him and Louis's coffee cups over the sink. 

"Oh, I'm quite alright, don't you worry about it," she reassured him, and Harry returned to Louis, who was spread out on the couch.

"Want to watch a movie? Or do you want to get home?" Louis asked, looking over at Harry. "You look exhausted, are you good to drive home?"

"I'll be fine. Let's watch a movie," Harry answered, cuddling up next to Louis. They were in the same position they were in when Harry first came over. Louis was running his fingers through Harry's curls, and he could sense that Harry was falling asleep. Louis spread a blanket over them, and his hands moved down to Harry's waist. Harry smiled to himself, and let himself drift off to sleep.

The next morning, Harry woke up and stretched. Louis was still asleep on the couch, but his arms were outstretched, asking for Harry to lay back down. Harry ran his fingers through Louis's hair, waking him up.

"I'm going to head home," Harry said, and Louis nodded, sitting up.

"I'll walk you out."

Harry grabbed his car keys off the table and pulled his boots back on. Louis stood on the porch, holding the door open for Harry.

"I had fun yesterday. Thanks for coming to dinner with me. And thanks for letting me crash here." They stood on the porch in broad daylight, and without thinking, Harry leaned in and gave Louis a quick peck.

"Anytime. I had fun, too," Louis mumbled, stunned that Harry had just kissed him out of nowhere.

"I'll see you around, Lou," Harry grinned before turning around and walking out to his car. He gave Louis a small wave before getting into the car and driving off.

 

**…**

 

The next month was busy for both Harry and Louis, and they barely had any time to hang out. They also found themselves getting annoyed at each other over the little things. They were both stressed and agitated, and taking it out on each other was probably not the best idea.

"Lou, Zayn's having a party on New Year's Eve. I think we should go," Harry suggested on the Monday before break started. They were sitting in Louis's kitchen doing homework.

The twins wanted Harry to come over and make cookies, and Louis wasn't working that night, so Louis invited Harry over. They had spent most of the afternoon baking Christmas cookies and decorating the Christmas tree. Having Harry over when decorating the tree was a huge help, because he was tall enough to help Louis put ornaments at the top of the tree, instead of just putting a bunch on the bottom. The afternoon had still been stressful, since they burned the first batch of cookies and couldn't find the lights to string on the tree.

"Yeah, of course. Parties are in the contract, and you know, fake dating and all, I have to follow the rules," Louis muttered. He was in a bad mood, and he was taking his anger out on Harry.

"We don’t have to go if you're going to bitch about it the entire time," Harry spat and Louis groaned. 

"I'm just not a partier, Harry. I don’t have the same friends as you and I don’t talk to anyone besides you when we go to them."

"I haven’t made you go to one in a while because I know they aren’t really your thing. God, just forget I asked," Harry sighed, looking back down to his homework.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I'm just stressed. Working retail during the holiday season is enough to make anyone an asshole. Anyways, I signed the contract, I have to go with you to any party you want to go to."

"Forget about the goddamn contract for two seconds," Harry shouted. "I know you're fucking stressed but you seem annoyed by every single thing I do lately. I asked you one question and you fucking snapped at me. Maybe we should end things before we start hating each other." Harry was on the verge of tears, and he felt his heart skip a beat when he said that. He didn’t want to end things with Louis, and he instantly regretted having the words leave his mouth. Louis looked up to see Harry trying to hide the fact that he was about to cry, and his heart sank. He felt so bad for yelling at Harry.

"I know it's not about the contract. I just need some space. Everything has been really overwhelming, the holidays always are. And having a fake relationship just adds more stress," Louis sighed, and Harry nodded, his eyes darkening. All he had gotten from Louis was that he was just a burden.

He didn't even want to waste his breath arguing with Louis. "Alright, then. I'm just going to leave. I'll see you around, Louis," he said in a monotone voice, shoving his textbooks and notebooks into his backpack. 

Louis's head shot up. Harry hasn't called him Louis in forever, he always said Lou. Louis knew Harry was mad at him, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Instead, he watched as Harry silently put his shoes on and then walked out the front door without even mumbling a goodbye. Louis opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He was faced with silence, and to make it even worse, he was pretty sure him and Harry had just ended things.

 

**…**

 

Louis and Harry hadn't talked since their fight, which was nearly a week ago.

"Is he coming tonight?" Liam asked cautiously, knowing Harry was a touchy subject for Louis.

 Liam had decided to spend Christmas with his mom this year, meaning he would be around on Christmas Eve to celebrate Louis's birthday the same way they've done every year. They start the day by going out to breakfast, Liam's treat, then they go ice skating with Louis's mom and sisters, they then have a big dinner, followed by cake and presents. For as long as Louis could remember, that's the way he's always spent his birthday, and he wouldn’t want to spend it any other way.

They were currently out to breakfast, but Louis was too sad to eat. Liam ordered chocolate chip pancakes when Louis told the waitress that he only wanted a cup of coffee, but chocolate chip pancakes reminded him of Harry. It wasn't Liam's fault; everything reminded Louis of Harry. Liam offered to give Louis his scrambled eggs, but Louis rejected them.

 "How the hell would I know? He's been ignoring my calls and texts," Louis said harshly, but his lip began quivering. He was on the verge of tears. Liam just nodded, acknowledging that Louis didn't want to talk about Harry.

 They made small talk about what Louis wanted for his birthday (a new car, which was unrealistic, so he told his mom he would settle for a new laptop), and what he got his sisters for Christmas (board games and movies for the twins, and gift cards to a store at the mall for Lottie and Fizzy). Louis was so tempted to tell Liam he wanted Harry back for his birthday, but he didn't. He didn’t know if he missed having Harry pretend to be his boyfriend, or if he missed being friends with Harry. Whatever the reason for missing Harry was, he was a part of Louis's life and not having around just didn't feel right. It was like Harry took a piece of his heart when he walked out the door the day of their fight. Louis just wanted to talk to Harry, but all of his calls went to voicemail and all of his texts went unread.

 At school, Harry didn't acknowledge Louis. They wouldn’t sit together at lunch, and they wouldn't talk in the hallways. They wouldn’t hold hands when walking out to the parking lot after school. And people noticed. Louis would constantly get asked if him and Harry broke up, but he ignored them. He had no idea what Harry was telling people, and he didn’t want to say they were still together if Harry was saying they weren't. Not that is was their place to ask anyways.

"Louis," Liam said, and Louis snapped back to reality. "You ready to go? It's almost time to go skating." Louis nodded, and Liam left money on the table for the bill.

"Sorry for being in such a bad mood," Louis sighed as they walked out of the restaurant.

"Don’t worry about it, Lou. But you should try to cheer up, it is your birthday after all. If Harry can't even be bothered to wish you a happy birthday, then he's not worth it," Liam replied, seeing Louis tense up out of the corner of his eye. Liam knew he shouldn’t have said something about it, but it's been driving him crazy to just think about Louis moping around his house.

 "You have a point," Louis muttered, wishing he knew the reason that Harry hadn't reached out to say happy birthday. Aside from the obvious, that being, Harry absolutely hating his guts, the other reasons Louis came up with included Harry losing or breaking his phone and Harry blocking or deleting Louis's number. Neither reason seemed plausible, since his texts still went through and his calls rang before going to voicemail.

 The car ride back to Louis's was pretty much silent. Christmas music played through the speakers of Liam's car, but it was on such a low volume that it was almost inaudible. Liam was walking on eggshells, afraid to say anything that might turn the conversation back to Harry, so he kept quiet. Louis wasn't in the mood to talk, he just wanted to crawl into bed and eat ice cream like he had done every day since he fought with Harry. It was weird. They had gotten into fights before, but this time it felt real.

 He, unfortunately, couldn’t do that. He already promised his mom that he would go ice skating. She had assured him that getting fresh air would be good for him, and so would spending time with his family.

And she was right. Ice skating with the family and Liam was just what he needed right now. His mom had told the girls that Harry was celebrating Christmas Eve with his family, so he couldn't come skating with them.

"Lou, can we talk?" Lottie asked, sitting down on the bench next to him. Louis was tying his skates, but he nodded. "It's about Harry." Louis froze. He didn't know if Lottie had good or bad news about Harry. His heart began to race and the nerves kicked in.

"Hmm," Louis hummed, indicating that she could continue.

"I heard your fight the other day," Louis froze again. "You guys were just pretending to be in a relationship? You had a contract?"

"Lottie, it's complicated," Louis sighed. He didn’t even know how to explain it to her, and he didn't want to.

 "But it didn't seem like you two were pretending."

 "Can we not talk about him anymore?" Louis begged, and Lottie nodded.

The rest of the afternoon, Louis, his family, and Liam just had a good time. They didn't talk about Harry at all, aside from the conversation Louis had with Lottie. And by the time they were getting back on the road to get home, Louis was happy. His birthday was well spent, and he had hardly thought about Harry when he was out with his family and Liam. Ice skating was a break from reality, and Louis was glad to have had today.

That was, until they pulled into the driveway. Sitting on the front steps was Harry, a bright red gift bag with white tissue paper sticking out the top. Harry's car wasn't in the driveway, and Louis had no idea how long he had been sitting outside in the snow, but seeing how his cheeks were practically the same color as the gift bag, Louis assumed it was a long time. 

"Jesus Christ, how long have you been sitting out here?" Louis asked, practically jumping out of the car and sprinting over to him. Liam and the rest of Louis's family went in through the side door to give the two boys some space.

"I'm not sure, but I can't exactly feel my face anymore. But Lou, can we talk?" Harry asked, and Louis's heart skipped a beat. He missed hearing Harry's voice, and he missed Harry calling him Lou. Louis nodded, and sat down on the steps next to Harry. "I'm sorry, Lou."

"What are you sorry for? I practically kicked you out. I said I needed space and that you felt like a burden to me. And God, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that. You're one of the best things to ever happen to me." Louis glanced over to Harry, who looked like he was on the verge of crying. Louis was about to cry too. He missed talking to Harry.

"I am?" Harry sniffled, looking up at Louis, who nodded and smiled. "I don’t want to fight anymore."

"I don't want to fight anymore either," Louis replied honestly, holding in his tears. He hated the feeling he got when fighting with someone. His stomach was constantly in knots whenever he left a fight unresolved. He slide closer to Harry, so their shoulders were touching. He just wanted to be near Harry, to hold or be held by Harry. 

"Can you forgive me for leaving and ignoring you?" Harry asked.

"I forgive you. Can you forgive me for snapping at you?" Louis asked, forcing a small smile.

"I forgive you, Lou." Harry looked up, and his teary eyes met Louis's. Harry gave it two seconds before wrapping his arms around Louis and pulling him for a hug. The moment his hand touched Louis's back, Harry started sobbing. Louis held him tightly, sobbing as well. "I missed you. So, so, so, much," Harry choked out.

"I missed you, too. Everything made me think about you. I couldn't eat or sleep. I just wanted to know that you were okay."

They stayed wrapped in each other's arms for another few minutes.

"Oh, Lou," Harry said, after they had both stopped crying. "Happy birthday." He grinned, holding out the red bag.

Louis took it from Harry, and pulled the white tissue paper off the top. Inside were two envelopes and something grey. Louis pulled out the two envelopes and placed them to the side, opting to see what Harry had put in the bag. He pulled out a familiar grey sweatshirt, the one he had let Harry borrow when he showed up unexpectedly on that Friday night. He had forgotten that Harry hadn't given it back to him, and to be honest, he would've been okay if Harry had kept it.

Louis reached for the smaller envelope first, but Harry told him to read the bigger one. It was just a standard birthday card, with "To the Best Boyfriend Ever, Happy Birthday" on the front. Harry had taken a marker in the same color as the writing and written "fake" above the word boyfriend, which made Louis chuckle. On the inside, there was a handwritten message from Harry: "Lou, The happiest of birthdays to you. Thank you for letting me celebrate with you. Best wishes, Harry. P.S. You're a great fake boyfriend but an even better real friend".

"Thank you, fake boyfriend," Louis smiled, putting the card down and reaching for the other envelope. "Can I read this?" Harry nodded.

Louis opened it and pulled out a handwritten letter. The pages were torn from a journal, and Louis wondered if it was from the same journal he had seen the love letter he wrote for Harry poking out of in Harry's room on Thanksgiving. Louis began to read, and he noticed Harry twitching, like he was anxious for how Louis would react.

_"Lou,_

_I'm not quite sure how to say this, so I'm going to do what you did to me first. I'm going to write down all of my feelings for you in a love letter. I don’t know if I'll ever have the guts to give you this, but I must have if you're reading this. I can't pinpoint a moment when pretending turned into something real, but at some point it did. I don't want to pretend anymore. I want us to be real._

_I could go on and on about how I feel about you, but I don't have the time and there isn't enough paper in the world for me to write everything I like about you. And besides, it's pointless for me to listen even some of the things I like about you when I could just be open and honest with you._

_Louis Tomlinson, I am in love with you. Plain and simple and right to the point. I am completely in love with you, Lou._

_Yours Truly,_

_Harry Styles"_

Louis's cheeks were tearstained and his eyes were bloodshot, yet he continued to reread the letter. He couldn't believe Harry had pulled a Louis and written (and meant to send) him a love letter. Harry's was genuine and raw, with words scribbled out and smudged ink. Louis's letters had always been drafted and rewritten until they were perfect, which made them seem less personal. Harry's was raw and real, and Louis had never appreciated a gift more. As Louis was rereading the letter yet again, his eyes skimmed the top, and he noticed it was dated November 18th, which was before Thanksgiving. Louis couldn't believe that Harry had known he was in love with him for over a month. Harry was in love with Louis when he came over an hour early on Thanksgiving to help cook his sisters breakfast before they made the desserts, and he was in love when they were cuddling and watching a movie later that night. He was in love when he broke the first rule of their contract and kissed him before he left after falling asleep while watching the movie on Thanksgiving. Harry was in love with Louis when he came over to make Christmas cookies and decorate the tree almost a week ago. He was in love even when they fought, when Louis said their fake relationship was a burden. And he was in love with Louis when he sat on the steps outside Louis's house today. He loved Louis enough to give him a love letter despite them being in a fight and being unaware of how Louis would react to it. He let Louis continue to think they were just pretending, when in reality, Harry was in love.

 "So?" Harry asked in a whisper, unsure of what else to say. He had been sitting in silence while Louis kept reading and rereading the letter, watching Louis wipe away tears. Instead of giving Harry an answer, Louis pulled him in for a kiss. And Harry kissed him back.

 

**…**

 

It was Louis who brought up the idea of going to Zayn's for New Year's Eve. Him and Harry were cuddling in Harry's bed, Louis running his finger through Harry's curls. It had only been a few days into them trying to date for real, and Louis didn’t know how to navigate a relationship. Harry kept reassuring him that it was the same as before, but with more kissing and more cuddling. But Louis still felt he was doing something wrong, and he wanted to please Harry, so he suggested they go to a New Year's Eve party. He was hesitant to bring it up at first, because the last time they talked about Zayn's party, Louis snapped and they fought, and Louis didn't want to start a fight.

"Babe, you hate parties," Harry said, sitting up and looking down at Louis. 

"I know, but you like them. And relationships are about compromising. So let's go to Zayn's tomorrow night."

 "You really want to start the new year doing something you hate?"

 "I am offended that you think I hate kissing you," Louis smirked, and Harry tossed a throw pillow at him.

 "You know what I meant, Lou," Harry sighed, and Louis laughed.

 "I don’t care what we do or where we are, the only thing I want to do for New Year's Eve is kiss you."

"You're such a romantic, you know that?" Now it was Harry's turn to laugh. Louis grinned.

 "I mean it, Harry," Louis said, truthfully. Harry's heart skipped a beat. He could see the honesty in Louis's eyes.  Harry leaned over and gave Louis a quick kiss. He was beyond grateful to be able to kiss Louis any time he wanted to. As Harry pulled away, Louis pulled him closer, kissing him again.

"You really want to go to Zayn's?" Harry asked, and Louis nodded. He wanted to spend New Year's Eve with Harry, and he didn't care where they were. "Alright, we can go."

 Louis buried his head into Harry's chest, and it was Harry's turn to run his fingers through Louis's hair. Louis felt himself dozing off, and Harry moving his hand from Louis's hair to his back made him even more tired.

 Louis had no intention of falling asleep, but when he woke up, it was pitch black outside, and he was alone.

Harry was nowhere to be seen. He checked his phone, it was _1:54am._ He didn't have any texts or missed calls from Harry, and all the lights were off in the room. He didn't know if he should get up and leave or if he should go back to sleep. Then he heard Harry's voice. It was very quiet, and it was coming from the hallway. He heard another faint voice, and he tried to make out the conversation but he was only able to pick up a few bits and pieces of the conversation.

 "No, I haven’t told him," he heard Harry say.

 "Why not? If you feel something, you should say it," the other voice said, and Louis felt his heart sink. Those words hit a little too close to home for him. He had a bad habit of not telling people how he feels when he feels it.

 "I don’t want to pressure him to say it back," Harry said something else after by Louis missed it.

 "H, you have to tell him."

 The rest of the conversation was inaudible, and a few minutes later, Louis heard the door creak open. He squeezed his eyes shut so Harry wouldn't know he was awake. Harry climbed into bed next to Louis, and wrapped his arm around him. Louis knew Harry liked to be the little spoon, even though he was taller than Louis, but he had to settle for the big spoon tonight so he would think Louis was asleep. Harry pulled Louis close to him and mumbled something under his breath. Louis wasn't exactly sure what Harry had said, but he thought it might have been "I love you."

 

**…**

 

The following night, Harry picked Louis up for Zayn's party at _9:30pm_. They instinctively held hands while Harry drove. The party was in full swing when they arrived, and Harry weaved his way through the crowd, Louis following closely behind him. They made small talk with a few people as they made their way to the kitchen to make drinks. Zayn told the soccer team it was alright for them to crash at his house, so Harry didn't have to stay sober. Harry decided he wanted to do shots of vodka all night with guys on the team, while Louis opted for a beer.

The music was loud, and Louis needed some fresh air, so he stepped out on to the deck, leaving Harry in the kitchen with the soccer team. After a few minutes, he heard the door open again and footsteps come across the deck. He didn't bother to look up, because he figured it was someone coming outside to smoke.

"No boyfriend tonight?" a familiar voice asked, and Louis glanced over to see Niall, a smug look on his face. "Bold move for New Year's Eve."

"Harry's inside," Louis answered, taking a swig of his nearly empty beer.

"And you're out here. Alone."

"Just needed to get some air. Couldn't even hear myself think inside," Louis spoke, his eyes narrowing. "Why do you care?"

"Didn't know if you needed someone to kiss at midnight. You know, since the love letter you wrote me said you wanted to kiss me," Niall replied, and Louis almost spit out his drink.

"I don't want to kiss you. I'm dating Harry."

"Well, if for some reason you decide you don't want to kiss him," Niall leaned in closer and lowered his voice to a whisper, "I'll be downstairs by the pool table."

Louis's heart skipped a beat. He knew Niall was jealous over him and Harry, which was the goal of fake dating Harry. But now him and Harry were really dating, and for the first time, the feelings he once had for Niall resurfaced. If him and Harry were still in a fight, or if Harry never confessed his love, then Louis genuinely would have taken Niall up on the offer. If him and Harry were still fake dating, he would have broken up with Harry right after talking to Niall. But there were real feelings involved now. Louis couldn't just drop Harry to kiss someone he once had a crush on, especially since he currently had a crush on Harry. Louis wanted nothing more than to kiss Harry at midnight.

"Not going to happen, Niall," Louis shrugged, taking a few steps away from him. "I would much rather kiss him than you." Niall scoffed, he didn’t believe Louis. But instead of saying something, Niall just watched Louis walk back inside.

Louis found Harry on the couch in the living room, draped over Zayn. Louis squeezed in on the other side of Harry, and gave Zayn a reassuring smile before pulling Harry over to him. A group of people were all smoking, and someone asked Louis if he wanted a hit, but he decided against it. He thought about telling Harry about his conversation with Niall, but he figured that was a conversation they needed to have when they were both sober.

"Who's down for shots at midnight?" Zayn asked, and Harry raised his hand along with a few other guys on the soccer team.

"Harry, you can't take a shot and kiss your boyfriend at the same time," Zayn chuckled.

"Oh, right," Harry giggled, before turning to Louis, "I get to kiss you at midnight," he grinned.

"God, you're so cute," Louis whispered, giving Harry a quick kiss.

"Louis," Harry gasped, "we have to wait until midnight!"

"Says who?" Louis challenged, leaning in for another kiss, but Harry refused.

"Says me."

"Get a room, you two," Zayn joked, and Harry flipped him off before bursting into a fit of laughter. Both of their eyes were red and they reeked of weed. Harry was high as a kite, and he always got extremely happy and found everything funny.

"One minute to midnight!" someone yelled, after cutting the music, so it was quiet. Harry had his arms wrapped around Louis, with his head resting on Louis's chest. Louis had been running his fingers through Harry's curls.

Everyone started counting down, and Harry lifted his head up.

"5! 4! 3! 2! 1!" Everyone screamed.

Harry pressed his lips to Louis, and Louis kissed him back.

"Happy New Year, Harry," Louis smiled, pulling away from the kiss.

"Happy New Year, Lou." Harry gave Louis another quick kiss. "I love you," he whispered against Louis's lips. Louis's heart skipped a beat. Harry hadn't said "I love you," out loud yet, at least not with the intention of Louis hearing. His cheeks burned red, and he couldn't believe Harry had just said that. Of course, Louis knew Harry was in love with him, Harry did write a letter detailing his love for Louis. But Harry hadn't said it out loud yet, and hearing it put a smile on Louis's face.

"You don't have to say it back," Harry said quietly. And Louis nodded. He wasn't ready to say it back. He didn't know if he was in love with Harry. He had never been in love before. All he knew was that Harry made his heart beat faster, made him laugh more, and even when they fought, Louis still wanted to run back to Harry. So, maybe, after all, he was in love with Harry, just like Harry was in love with him. 

 

**…**


	2. harry's birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a quick scene about harry's birthday that i impulsively decided to write in honor of september 28th.

Louis was sitting at his desk, crumpled up pieces of paper scattered around him. He was trying to get his thoughts on to paper. Writing letters when he had a crush was something he could always something he could rely on, but for whatever reason, tonight the words just weren't coming to him. He reached for a fresh piece of paper, giving himself another chance. This time, he would let his mind take over; he wouldn't second guess or overthink anything he was writing. He just wanted to, needed to, write. And as he wrote, he got lost in his words. For the first time, they were coming together. 

He was in his own zone, that he didn't even hear his phone ringing repeatedly. He didn't notice the sky turn from blue to orange and pink to black. He didn't hear the knock on his door, or the sound of footsteps coming up behind him.

"Lou," Harry whispered in Louis's ear, startling him. He quickly spun his chair around, and gave Harry a hug. 

"Hey, what are you doing here? We don't have dinner plans until 7." Louis asked, confused, before glancing over at his alarm clock. It was almost 9. "Shit. I'm so sorry." he mumbled. He couldn't believe he had missed Harry's birthday dinner. "Fuck. Harry, I'm the worst." 

"Hey, don't worry about it. I mean it," Harry whispered, pulling Louis in close to him. "I told my mom you weren't feeling well. She dropped me off here, told me to make sure you were okay." 

"Harry, I missed your fucking birthday. I am the worst boyfriend ever. I'm so sorry." 

"Lou, it's okay, I promise," Harry said, kissing Louis's forehead. And he meant it. Harry wasn't mad that Louis missed dinner. He was worried about Louis after not hearing from him for hours, which is why he came to check in on him. But he wasn't mad. He wanted to make sure Louis was okay. "What are you working on?" Harry asked, switching subjects, and motioning towards the paper scattered across Louis's desk. 

Louis wasn't done with the letter he was writing. He wasn't ready for it to be read. He had been interrupted just as he was getting into the zone. 

"It's not done yet," was all Louis said. And Harry nodded. He didn't want to pry. 

"Can I sleep here tonight?" Harry asked, changing the subject again. 

"Of course. You're always welcome to. You know that." Louis said, giving Harry a quick peck. "Do you want to watch a movie? Or just cuddle?" 

"Cuddle, please? I'm tired" Harry mumbled, kicking his shoes off and climbing into Louis's bed. 

Reluctantly, Louis grabbed the papers he had written so far. The letter was almost six pages, and he only had a few more sentences to write. 

"Can you give me a minute?" Louis asked, and Harry nodded. He knew Louis was distracted by whatever it was he was writing, and that Harry had interrupted that. He was itching to read what Louis was writing. Lately, Louis had been writing poems, and he would read them to Harry whenever he finished.   
Harry loved to hear Louis's poems. They gave him an insight into what Louis was thinking. Even though they have been officially dating since Louis's birthday, Louis was still reserved when it came to sharing his emotions, and his poems were raw. 

The last poem Louis read to Harry was about a child hearing his parents fight constantly, but Harry couldn't decide who Louis was in the scenario. Harry knew Louis had a complicated relationship with his family, and that his father and step-father had both walked out and him, his mom, and his sisters. So it could've been a reflection of his past. But it also could have been about Louis committing to someone and raising kids with them, only to realize they weren't the right person. He knew Louis's poems showed vulnerability, but the latest one took it to an extreme, and Louis almost cried reading it out to Harry.   
Louis scribbled a few more sentences on to the paper, carefully stapled the pages together and placed it into an envelope addressed to Harry. 

He stood up from his desk, holding the envelope in his hand, and walked across the room to his closet. He grabbed the silver gift bag off of the floor, and stuffed the letter into it, before turning back to Harry. 

Harry was sprawled out across Louis's bed, scrolling through his phone. Louis laid down next to him, softly kissing his shoulder before curling up next to him. 

"I'm sorry I missed your birthday dinner, babe," he whispered, feeling the need to continue apologizing. 

"Lou, it's okay. I love you," Harry grinned, giving Louis a kiss. Louis felt his stomach drop. It had been a month since New Year's eve, when Harry had first told Louis he loved him. Louis had yet to say it back. 

"I got you a present," Louis said, reaching down and pulling the silver bag up on to the bed. Both of them sat up, facing each other, with the gift between them.

One gift was a mug with Harry's name. The small note inside said it was for him to keep at Louis's house, so he would have his own mug to use anytime he was over. The other gift in the bag was a leather journal, roughly the same size as the one Louis had seen at Harry's on Thanksgiving. Inside, Louis had inscribed a short message:   
Harry -   
I know you like to write, and I figured you might need a new journal to write me more love letters just because. Kidding, use the journal to write about anything you want.   
Happy birthday.   
Love,   
Lou

"Aw, babe, I love it," Harry smiled, leaning in and giving Louis a kiss. Harry reached for the envelope next. 

"Come here," Louis whispered. "I want to cuddle while you read it." Harry grinned, sliding closer to Louis. He rested his head on Louis's chest, and Louis wrapped his arms around Harry's waist. Harry opened the envelope, and pulled out the multi-page letter. He began to reading, Louis   
listening to Harry breathe while patiently waiting for him to finish. 

Louis heard Harry take a sharp inhale, hold back a sob, and eventually, let himself cry. 

"Do you mean it?" he asked after he finished, trying not to cry. Louis nodded. 

The letter had detailed 31 reasons why Louis was in love with Harry, one for every day in January where Harry had said 'I love you' and Louis didn't say it back. It also explained Louis's fears for being in a relationship, like people walking out on him or spending his life with the wrong person. It talked about how Louis had found comfort being with Harry, how despite everything they had been through, he could always count on Harry to be there. It was six pages of Louis just confessing all of the thoughts, feelings, and emotions he had towards Harry. Louis had always had a way with words, but writing this letter to Harry was different. It was hard, because the feelings were real, and Louis had never had true feelings for someone. 

"God, I love you, Louis," he broke down into tears. That was all he could say. 

"I love you, Harry," Louis said for the first time, and both of them felt their hearts skip a beat. He meant it. He was so in love with Harry, it scared him. He'd never known a feeling like this, and he could only imagine it's what love was. "I'm in love with you." He whispered, running his fingers through Harry's curls. "Happy birthday, babe," he smiled, giving Harry a quick kiss.

"Thank you, I'm glad I got to spend at least some of it with you." 

"I feel like the worst boyfriend ever for missing your birthday dinner. Especially because I wanted to meet your family," he said,   
Louis held Harry tightly in his arm. He was so relieved that Harry loved the letter, but he still couldn't believe he had missed Harry's birthday dinner. He would have to make it up to Harry. 

"Harry," he whispered. "Hmm" Harry hummed in response. "I love you," Louis said, and Harry smiled. "And I'm sorry I missed your birthday dinner, I promise I'll make it up to you." 

"Lou, I told you that it's fine. Being here with you is the best birthday present I could have asked for," Harry answered honestly. He couldn't think of anything better than spending a least a little bit of his birthday with Louis. But Louis shook his head. He refused to let Harry let this slide. 

He reached for his phone for the first time in hours, seeing 15 missed calls from Harry and numerous texts. He read through the texts quickly. 

**hey babe, dinners at 7**  
**any way you can drive yourself? my cars in the shop so i have to go with my family**  
**where are you?**  
**lou?**  
**hello?**  
**are you coming?**  
**louis???**  
**hello???**  
**babe, where are you?**  
**we're already sitting. are you coming?**  
**lou? hello?**  
**are you coming?? you'll make it in time for dessert...**  
**are you okay??**  
**louis??**  
**babe, answer me**  
**are you okay??**  
**lou i'm coming over**

And that's where the texts ended. Louis's heart dropped. Harry wanted him at his birthday dinner so much, and Louis was too wrapped up in finding the right words to explain his feelings for Harry. Louis had felt like the worst person in the entire world. He had let Harry down on his birthday. 

He looked down at Harry, who was now asleep, one arm draped over Louis's stomach and his head resting on Louis's chest. Louis ran his fingers through Harry's curls, and tried to think of how he could make it up to him. After thinking about it for a while, Louis finally had an idea. He cuddled up next to Harry, and drifted off to sleep next to his boyfriend. 

The next morning Harry woke to an empty bed. It wasn't until he heard a loud crash in the kitchen, followed by a string of swears coming from Louis that he knew Louis was in the kitchen. Harry glanced at the time on his phone: 9:28am. 

He had fallen asleep in his jeans and a dress shirt, so he raided Louis's closet for something to change into. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and as he looked for a shirt, he heard Louis's bedroom door open. Harry stood shirtless, Louis's sweatpants hanging low on him. 

"Good morning," Harry smiled when Louis saw him. 

"It is a good morning," Louis grinned, walking across the room and giving Harry a kiss. "It's always a good morning with you." 

"Why were you up so early?" Harry asked. 

"It's a surprise. I'll be right back," Louis nodded towards the door and Harry pulled a sweatshirt over his head. Louis quickly left the room, and Harry climbed back into bed. 

A few minutes later, Louis pushed the door open again, holding a tray full of food. 

"Happy late birthday, Harry," Louis said, putting the tray down on the bed next to Harry. The tray contained two chocolate chip pancakes in the shape of a heart, scrambled eggs, some toast, some sliced fruit, and some coffee in the mug Louis gave him for his birthday.

"You didn't have to!" Harry gasped. 

"Of course I did. Happy birthday," Louis placed a kiss on Harry's forehead before sliding into bed next to him. 

"I love you. So, so much, Lou." 

"I love you, too." 

That night, Louis and Harry went out to dinner, just the two of them. Louis was wearing a dark blue button up, because he knew Harry liked it when he wore blue. They were sitting across from each other in a corner booth at a quiet Italian restaurant across town.

"Can you believe-" Harry started, as Louis's phone rang. "You can get that," Harry nodded, and Louis pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was Lottie. 

"Hey, what's up?" Louis asked, before excusing himself from the table. "We haven't gotten our food yet, no. Are they there yet? Okay. I'll text you when we're on our way home. Okay. Text me when they show up. Okay. We should be home in an hour. Okay. Love you too, Lottie." 

Louis returned to the table to see Harry talking to a waiter. 

"Hi, babe," Louis smiled, sliding in across Harry. Harry quickly ended the conversation with the waiter and directed his attention back to Louis. 

"Hey, who was on the phone?" Harry asked. 

"Lottie. She's watching the twins alone tonight and couldn't figure out how to get Netflix on the TV." Louis lied. 

"She's watching them alone? Where's your mom?" 

"She got asked to pick up a shift at the last minute, but Lottie will be fine. She can handle them." 

"Do you want to take our food to go? We can help her with them." 

"Harry, no. It's your birthday. And it's date night. We can check in on them after we eat," Louis reassured him, and Harry nodded. He missed hanging out with Louis's sisters on weekends. Louis's mom had been trying to work less, so she was around more on the weekends and Harry's babysitting expertise wasn't needed.

"Yeah, I'd love to hang out with them," Harry smiled. 

A few minutes later, their food came out. As they ate, they made small talk. Louis was anxiously awaiting a text from Lottie, and he was eating slowly until he got one. As if on cue, his phone vibrated with a text from Lottie. 

"Do you want dessert? Or are you ready to home?" Louis asked, as the waiter came over to take their plates. 

"Let's go," Harry said, "We'll take the check," he said to the waiter. 

When the check came, Harry reached for his wallet. 

"Absolutely not," Louis insisted, grabbing the bill and his wallet. "You are not paying for your birthday dinner." 

"Lou, it's my turn to pay for date night. You paid last time." 

"You're birthday is an exception from our date night schedule," Louis chuckled, and Harry sighed, putting his wallet back in his pocket.   
Louis put the money to pay for dinner on the table, and they both grabbed their coats and made their way out to Louis's car. 

"Thank you for dinner," Harry smiled. 

"Of course, babe." 

As they drove back to Louis's, they held hands. The roads were slippery since it was February, and Louis drove carefully. It was starting to snow, and Harry stared out the window admiring it. The radio was playing quietly.

As Louis turned on to his street, he was relieved that there weren't any cars in the driveway. That meant it would be a complete surprise to Harry when he saw. Louis pulled into the driveway and shut the car off. He pulled Harry in for a kiss, and Harry smiled. As Harry pulled away, Louis pulled him back in. He just wanted a few more moments alone with his boyfriend.

"What?" Harry asked, glancing around for any sign of why Louis had pulled him back in. 

"Just admiring you," Louis smirked, running one of hands through Harry's curls. Harry blushed. 

"Come on, let's go make sure Lottie didn't kill any of your sisters." Harry suggested, pushing his door open. They held hands as they made their way up the steps. Louis kicked the snow off of his shoes before stepping into the house, and Harry did the same. The kitchen was dark, but there was a light on in the living room. Harry assumed the girls would be in there, watching a TV show or movie. Louis followed him into the room, and Harry's jaw dropped when he saw that it was decorated with streamers and balloons. There was even a banner that read "Happy Birthday" across the fireplace. 

"Surprise!" a chorus of voices said, and it took Harry a moment to realize that his mom and Gemma were sitting on the couch with Louis's mom. Lottie and Fizzy were on the other couch, and the twins were no where to be seen. 

  
"Happy Birthday, Harry," Louis grinned, giving him a hug. 

"You did all this for me?" he asked, in awe. 

"Of course. You deserve it." 

"I love you, Louis," he whispered, giving Louis a soft kiss. "And I love all of you for wanting to celebrate it with me," he said louder, motioning to his and Louis's families. 

"We love you, too, Harry" Jay beamed, giving Harry a hug. 

"Yeah, we love you!" Daisy exclaimed, running up and hugging Harry from behind. 

"Look, we made you a card!" Phoebe said, running in behind Daisy. Harry crouched down so he could read their card. It was handwritten and there were lots of scribbles. It said "Happy Birthday Harry!!" and there was a drawing of Harry and the twins playing soccer. 

"Aww, I love it," Harry pulled the two girls into a group hug. 

The night was spent sitting around the fireplace, with movies playing in the background, and board games scattered across the room. When Jay came out with the cake, Harry didn't know what to wish for. He was happy and in love with Louis. And Louis was in love with him. He was surrounded by people who cared about so much more than he could even imagine. The only thing he could wish for was for everything in his life to stay as perfect as it was in this moment. So that's exactly what he did. 

He wished for himself to always be surrounded by people who loved and cared about him. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading my fic!! i hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it!  
> you can find me on twitter @kissykristen if want to let me know what you thought about it, or if you just want to talk


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